Inheriting Insanity
by Sourdough-AK
Summary: During the fight at the Valley of the End, Naruto manifests a strange ability that allows him to bring back Sasuke. However, he must now master it, or fall into the depths of insanity. A NarutoRKSoul Calibur cross. Discontinued and pending rewrite.
1. Prologue: Insanity's Onset

Standard Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, or any other series that may be used in this fic. They belong solely to the wonderful people that have written them. This is the result of spending too much time indoors during cold Alaska weather and watching too much anime.

Inheriting Insanity

A Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover

By SourdoughAK

Prologue - Insanity's Onset

"_... Naruto... you were special... but I am more special than you."_

These words resonated in the blond-haired Gennin's mind as the Chidori and the Rasengan clashed, the two forces of nature fighting desperately for alpha status. For Uzumaki Naruto, failure was not an option.

His teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, was the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan that was murdered by his older brother Itachi. Driven by his obsession to kill him, Sasuke's sole focus in life is to gain power, even if it meant selling his soul to the devil. Thus the two Gennins find themselves at the Valley of the End in a heated battle. With Sasuke powered by Orochimaru's curse seal at level two, and Naruto fueled by Kyuubi's seemingly endless chakra, the two push onward towards their goals. If Naruto fails in his task to retrieve Sasuke, he will be lost to the snake sennin, thus increasing his threat to Konoha and forever damning the Uchiha clan into darkness.

As the two attacks collided, the forces shrieked as they fought for victory, encasing the two young shinobi in a black pearl. A deafening roar was heard, followed by a blinding flash that bathed the two young ninja as their fight for dominance in an uphill battle came to a conclusion. For Sasuke, victory would mean that he would travel the path he chose, hopefully to gain the power he sought. For Naruto, it would mean that he would prove his nindo, complete his first A-class mission, and keep the promise he made to his teammate Haruno Sakura.

The roar subsided and the flash faded away from view, revealing the young avenger standing above a seemingly unconscious demon vessel. It seemed that all Naruto's efforts were in vain.

Sasuke bowed his head forward, allowing his hitae-ite to slip off of his forehead and onto the ground next to Naruto with a loud clatter. Glancing at it, he noticed that there was a scratch across it where the leaf emblem was. He had boasted confidently to Naruto during their last fight that he would not be able to even scratch his head. That fight, however, was cut short as Kakashi intervened the moment that the Chidori and the Rasengan would have clashed on the rooftop of the hospital. Sasuke forced himself to suppress a smirk. Just as he defeated Gaara during the Chuunin Exams and Haku on the bridge in Wave Country, Naruto had done what was deemed impossible. Throughout his time on Team Seven, Naruto had continuously beat the odds and come out on top.

As rain fell from the sky a violent muscle spasm in the shoulder forced Sasuke out of his thoughts as a wave of unbearable pain shot through him, penetrating the very fiber of his being and forced him to his knees. Bowing forward, he coughed dryly, a small amount of blood liberating itself from his body through his mouth. The action brought him down to face the unconscious Naruto, his eyes focusing on the dented and scuffed hitae-ite he wore. It showed significant signs of wear, seeing as it was at one time the hitae-ite of their Academy instructor Umino Iruka. Naruto wore the metal band religiously, treasuring the coming-of-age gift that was given to him by his father figure. To him, the steel emblem was more than a hunk of refined iron that protected his head from being imbedded by kunai, shuriken, and the like. It was a symbol of acknowledgment and acceptance bestowed upon him by the one most important figure to him in the world. Sasuke knew that Naruto was considered the scourge of Konoha, and for what reason he could not understand. However, he also had no doubt that despite this, because of Iruka Naruto fought for Konoha with all of his being for the one person he felt was worth protecting. Over time, the blonde-haired boy continued to gather those that became close to him, making him even more determined to prove his way and protect his home.

Sasuke was no exception, and he knew it. He knew that Naruto saw him as a friend, even as a brother. For this reason, among others, Naruto fought him to the greatest extent of his ability, intent on bringing him back to the Leaf.

The young avenger stood shakily, still gripping his right shoulder. Casting his gaze to the seemingly unconscious boy on the ground, his face was devoid of any emotion. He could not tell if he or Naruto had been crying or if either one of them was crying at this moment, however far-fetched the thought was for someone to cry while unconscious. The rain drew the heat away from his body, chilling him to the bone and making him as physically cold as he was feeling emotionally. With a grunt, he turned his back on Naruto, eyes cast on the ground in front of him with the intent of keeping himself steady while he made his journey to the Sound Nation. He knew that Naruto was not alone in the woods, and he was certain that no matter what the state of his companions were back-up was on the way. With that thought in mind, he slowly began to trudge away, his body protesting his every move. Nothing mattered now except getting to Orochimaru and avenging his clan.

Years from now, Sasuke would look on this event in his life as the greatest mistake of his life that he never got to make. For the first few years afterwards, he would snarl, brood, and throw fits over how he was denied his chance to become more powerful, but the event following the fight would come to be the one event that he would become the most grateful for happening, for as he was shuffling away, a voice stopped him dead in his tracks, his eyes widening with shock and disbelief.

"You bastard... stop..."

Slowly, and painfully, Sasuke pivoted around. He could not believe what he had just heard, and turning to find the source of the voice only made the situation even more unbelievable.

As he turned, he saw Naruto shakily standing, making an incredible effort to support himself on his own two feet. He was obviously exhausted as he was breathing heavily, swallowing large gulps of air. Slowly, as he steadied himself, his breathing became less labored, and he seemed to regain some strength as he was not wobbling as much where he stood. The rain continued to pour down on the two young shinobi, matting the blonde's hair to his head under the weight of the water it contained. The blonde shinobi's cerulean blue eyes bored into Sasuke, seemingly into the depths of his soul, causing the young avenger to flinch slightly. It was as if Naruto was not looking directly at him but through him, gazing directly to the core of his being.

Sasuke's shock didn't last very long. As he stared back, his disbelief gave way to anger. After all this effort, the Dobe was still standing? In reality, part of him was relieved that his teammate was still alive, but to be standing after the scale of physical exertion and chakra depletion they had just gone through was just asinine to the youngest Uchiha. What was the dead-last's secret? How could he manage such a feat?

"Damn it... what does it take to keep you down!" The onyx-eyed boy snarled at his opponent. The blonde boy only looked impassively at him, further agitating him.

"You know damn well as I do I'm a stamina freak, Uchiha... it'll take more than what you throw at me to keep me from getting back up."

Sasuke only scoffed at this.

"Whatever. I'm leaving. If you follow, I'll kill you for sure."

"I can't allow that, Sasuke... I have a promise to keep..."

It was at this comment that Sasuke lost his composure again, snapping at Naruto.

"Damn you! Why are you trying to deny my what's rightfully mine! You know why I'm doing this! Leave me the hell alone!"

"You're taking an easy out, Sasuke. Do you really think that Orochimaru would give you power that easily? Everything comes with a price..."

"It doesn't matter... all that matters is killing my brother. For that, I'm willing to sell my soul to the devil to gain the necessary power."

"I don't think you understand, Sasuke. I told why Orochimaru wants you! I had a little talk with one of his bitches before we fought, and it's not because he's feeling like giving away shit like some humanitarian..."

"Keh... You actually know how to use that word, let alone what it means?" sneered Sasuke.

"Listen, you bastard!" Naruto growled, quickly loosing his patience, "He wants the Sharingan! He'll train you for as long as he wants to, and as soon as he's happy with the results he'll knock your soul out and take your body! It's guaranteed death!"

"And as I told you... I don't care."

Silence washed uncomfortably over the two boys, the sound of the rain beating the landscape and the rushing of the waterfall drowned out by the intensity of the argument.

"Sasuke," Naruto started, "You have everything you could possibly want in Konoha... Kakashi-sensei's respect, Sakura-chan's love, and the praise of the entire village. Do you really want to throw it all away? It would be a slap in the face to your parents for them to know you are doing this. They wouldn't want you to do this!"

"And what would you know about it! Don't presume to know anything about me OR my family!

"Damn it, Sasuke! If you go through with this, you'll end up destroying so many lives! What your doing is going to turn out to be exactly like what your brother did!"

"DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO THAT BASTARD!" Sasuke roared, totally losing his composure at the mere thought of what Naruto had suggested.

"Eh... don't kid yourself. You think you've had it worse than me because I never had anything to lose? That's horse shit, Sasuke, plain and simple. Do you have any idea how it feels to be hated for something that isn't your fault? To be deemed guilty of crimes and sins you never committed?"

"What the hell are you talking about, moron?" demanded the avenger.

"You're so full of shit when you say you know hell," the blonde Gennin responded, foregoing an explanation of what he said, "You see how the villagers look at me. How they scorn my very existence despite the fact that I have fought to protect them with everything I have..."

Naruto leveled his gaze on Sasuke, his blue eyes piercing into the young avenger's onyx ones. Sasuke stared back, refusing to flinch under his scrutiny, but began to wonder when Naruto had become like this. He sounded so mature... so intelligent...

"And you... you are the pride and joy of the village! They love you, respect you... even cherish you! You have comrades that would fight alongside you and are fighting to keep you from making a terrible mistake! And yet you're willing to throw it all away for an empty promise of power and cling to your hate like a little kid would cling to his mother's leg for comfort!"

Sasuke twitched angrily. The analogy Naruto used had struck a nerve. Being called a child, however indirect it was, was NOT something that Sasuke appreciated. His patience was wearing terribly thin, and Sasuke suspected that Naruto was stalling for back-up to arrive. With his body as banged up as it was, the time lost talking to the blonde shinobi would definitely make his escape more difficult.

"Do you remember what Kakashi-sensei said when he passed us? After you and Sakura fed me when I was tied to the log?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn't respond.

"He said that shinobi that don't follow the rules are trash, but those that turn their backs on their comrades are lower than trash (1). We are you comrades, Sasuke. Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei... and myself. And you're turning your back on us, forgetting all that you, me, Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei have been through together as a team. You're blowing off the love and acceptance of an entire village. And you're turning your back on me and the others as we try to save you from a fate worse than death!"

A breeze shot through the area, chilling their already cold and soaked bodies to the bone. Their gazes hardened on each other. Internally, Sasuke was fuming, losing is patience with the blonde and growing increasingly angry at his lecture. How dare the dead-last presume to tell him that he was not a proper shinobi! He was stronger and more skilled than the blonde idiot. Friends, family, and lovers where only a liability to leave you vulnerable, and were best eliminated before they became a problem. Why couldn't he see that?

"Are you calling me trash, Dobe?" Sasuke growled dangerously, daring him to prove his assumption right.

Naruto's brows furrowed angrily. He had fought the last Uchiha with all of his might, and had lost the battle of the forces. However, some unknown strength, seeming to come out of nowhere, forced him back into consciousness. As he spoke to the young Uchiha, he felt his strength returning to him, bit by bit. He could now keep himself steady without much effort, and his labored breathing eased to a normal pattern. For some reason, he could see each and every raindrop as they fell from the sky in front of him. He could feel the cold and gentle splash against his skin as if they were nails driving into his flesh. He could smell the mildew that grew on the forest floor around them, amplified by the damp air and water absorption. And the waterfall seemed to roar louder than he remembered, bordering on deafening.

Naruto inwardly sighed. He had tried to reason with Sasuke the best he could, and all his arguments were falling on deaf ears. It would have been so easy to let him go and walk his path, but Naruto couldn't allow that. He had a mission to accomplish, and a promise to keep. Sasuke would come back with him, one way or another.

As all this was running through Naruto's mind, not even five seconds had passed in silence. Finally, the blonde broke the silence.

"You are worse than trash, Sasuke... you are scum. You are exactly like Orochimaru... and you are exactly like your brother, you self-centered piece of shit."

The last comment was more than Sasuke could take, as his rage boiled over and his anger took control of him.

"How dare you..." He snarled before breaking into a full roar, "HOW DARE YOU! YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

And with that, Sasuke charged Naruto, ignoring the screams of protest his body was giving him. To him, his weakened state from the curse seal and his chakra depletion did not matter. Rage and adrenaline surged through his body, fueling him with new energy. His mind had one focus: to crush the insect that stood before him.

Sasuke delivered a devastating blow with his right fist to Naruto's temple, followed by an onslaught of jabs and straights to his midsection. They weren't nearly as powerful as they would have been with him at full power, but the anger and adrenaline rush put enough force behind them to allow him to satisfactorily start cracking the blonde's ribs. Sasuke followed this up with a spinning heel to Naruto's head, snapping it away with extreme force and causing the blonde to stagger. He continued with a straight kick into Naruto's stomach, and followed with combination of straights and jabs before ending with an uppercut that snapped his head back. The blow had enough strength to push Naruto back three, maybe four feet, spattering the lower leg of his pants with mud as he slid along the wet ground before coming to a halt.

Throughout all of this, Naruto had stood his ground, never falling. No matter what Sasuke threw at him, Naruto was firmly rooted. He never gave any recognition of being hit, nor did he even seem to register the pain. When the onslaught ended, he stood just as strongly as he did before. The only difference was that he was slightly slumped, as if his whole world came crashing down on him. His head was bowed, not allowing Sasuke to see his eyes or face, and thus creating an effective mask that could not be penetrated.

This sent Sasuke over the edge. He had hit the blonde gennin with everything he had, and he was STILL standing! It was utterly ridiculous!

"GOD DAMN YOU!" The onxy-eyed boy screamed in frustration, "GO DOWN AND STAY DOWN!"

Sasuke rushed Naruto again, intent on ending the confrontation. Putting all he could into his strength, he flew in with a right-handed hay maker, hoping that the attack would have enough power to knock Naruto down and keep him out of commission. Their distances narrowed to mere centimeters, and his blow came even closer to connecting. Finally, the loud pap of flesh hitting flesh was heard, and Sasuke was frozen dead in his tracks, eyes wide as dinner-plates and full of disbelief.

His blow never connected. Naruto had caught his arm at the wrist.

His shock was not short lived. Naruto emitted a low, feral growl before focusing his gaze on Sasuke. As he faced Sasuke, the wet sound of sinew snapping and crackling and tissue moving could be heard. Vein-like track lines formed on his face, starting between his blue eyes and spreading down his cherub-like cheeks and across his forehead to his temples. The sound continued to emit itself from Naruto's body, the rest of the formation of the lines hidden from view by the blonde's clothing. However, Sasuke knew that the lines appeared across the body. The formation of the lines on Naruto's flesh that was exposed through the hole in his jacket and on his hands were the only evidence he needed to make this inference. As these lines formed, Sasuke struggled against the blonde's grip, but to no avail. His hold was like the grip of a python latched to its prey.

However, it was Naruto's eyes that were the most unsettling aspect of his change. They did not change color as they did earlier in their conflict, nor did they gain the slitted pupil they had while they fought. They remained his usual cerulean blue, and emotions that the gaze held were to be expected. Sadness and betrayal were obviously evident in his eyes, as they were evident throughout their battle.

It was the level of anger that they reflected that was most unsettling. It was like staring into the face of a madman, his rage festering like a infected boil waiting to burst. Naruto seemed to be on the edge of sanity, teetering dangerously close to snapping completely and flying into a murderous rage.

It was then that Nartuo's growling voice brought Sasuke out of his stupor.

"You lousy piece of shit... you are coming back to Konoha..."

And with that, Naruto's right fist flew into Sasuke's humerus, snapping it like a twig. Sasuke felt the bone snap abruptly, feeling his arm become numb for an instant before a wave of sheer pain shot across it, forcing a scream out of him.

"... ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!"

Sasuke never got the chance to back away from Naruto. With his left hand still firmly clamped onto the wrist of his broken arm, Naruto lashed out again with a solid kick to Sasuke's thigh. His sudden, newfound strength displayed itself once again, as the kick broke the leg as if it were rotten lumber. Once again, Sasuke shrieked in pain. The leg gave out, and he slumped down, unable to support his weight. His rage and adrenaline rush had subsided, and now all he could feel was the pain. With the level of exhaustion he now experienced, his previous condition compounded by the anger and adrenaline fueled attacks he made, he was in no condition to react. Naruto then hauled Sasuke up to his eye level by his broken arm, causing him to grunt painfully, yet again leveling his gaze at him.

The rage held in Naruto's eyes, along with the odd track marks that covered his face, made the blonde look absolutely sinister. Just briefly, Sasuke felt a small twinge of fear in the back of his mind.

"Endgame, bitch." Naruto spoke coldly before hauling back and slamming his fist into Sasuke's gut, releasing his wrist in the process. The blow lifted Sasuke into the air, knocking his breath out of him. The onyx-eyed avenger coughed heavily, spitting up a gob of blood. Finally, Naruto brought his other fist down on his teammate to the back of the head, driving him into the wet ground. Sasuke landed with a hard thud, and did not move.

As Naruto stared coldly at the fallen avenger, his enhanced senses picked up the sound of his ragged breathing and the expansion of his chest through the rise and fall of his back and sides. Sasuke was alive, and although at this point he could have cared less if he lived or died, he preferred the outcome the way it was. The blonde gennin smirked to himself, knowing that his mission was complete. Now all that was left was to get the last Uchiha home.

It was then that a wave of nausea hit him like a ton of bricks, followed by a dizziness spell so bad that if felt like the world was spinning around him. Needle-like pain coursed through his body in waves, as if his nerves were conducting solely his pain receptors to his brain and doing it all at once. Naruto staggered a bit, losing his equilibrium before vomiting blood and falling to his back. The track lines on his body recessed, his appearance returning to normal, and darkness once again washed over him.

* * *

Deep within Naruto's mindscape, serious changes were occurring. The "corridor" that held the Kyuubi at bay shook with utter violence, as if it was going to cave in.. Inside his cage, the nine-tailed beast could only sit and ride it out. However, a sense of dread and foreboding overtook the creature. 

**_What the hell is going on?_** He thought to himself, **_and why do I feel like I'm not going to like the answer?_**

Just as soon as that thought echoed into his mind, the mindscape shook violently as beige root-like protrusions tore up from the "ground" in front of him, uprooting themselves in an alarmingly increasing rate. They continued to approach him, and in a sudden burst of speed, penetrated the cage that held him and pierced into his body, firmly rooting themselves into him. Just as soon as the root-like structures buried themselves into him, they began heavy cycling of chakra to and from the demon. The fox could feel it's chakra drain from him, while the energy that cycled to him felt nothing like his or his vessel's chakra. Soon waves of pain coursed through every fiber of the beast.

Inside the body of Uzumaki Naruto, the beast screamed, and no one heard it's cries.

End prologue...

Author's notes:

This took longer than I expected. I started this fic sometime during my Christmas break, and here I am finishing up this part during my spring break. This chapter was originally longer than what I have presented to you, but upon finishing it my beta reader and I decided it would probably be best to split the chapter. So instead of one large chapter you folks get a one mid-sized chapter and one long chapter.

I plan on attempting some romance in this story, but I haven't decided on any pairings for this story yet. I'm a huge fan of the NaruHina pairing, so that most likely will be one of the primary couplings I will have. Also, I plan on using at least a couple of characters in interesting ways. I'll just have to decide as I'm writing

Until then, I bid you all good reading.

1) I know I probably totally butchered this saying. However, I like the way it came out, and it keeps the original feel of what Kakashi originally said.

Feel free to e-mail and review. Constructive criticism is nice, but flames will quickly be ignored.


	2. Chapter 1: Insanity's History

Standard Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, or any other series that may be used in this fic. They belong solely to the wonderful people that have written them. This is the result of spending too much time indoors during cold Alaska weather and watching too much anime.

Inheriting Insanity

A Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover

By SourdoughAK

Chapter 1 - Insanity's History

Inuzuka Tsume hated the rain. It wasn't that she couldn't deal with the smell of a wet dog. After all, she was a member of a clan that used dogs as a companion ninja tool, so occasionally a mission in rainy weather was inevitable. Therefore, since she had spent her entire life around canines, as did her two children, she was used to it. It also helped that Kuromaru, her wolfish companion since her gennin days, didn't really smell much when it rained. This had added benefits because the smell of a wet dog could alert targets and potential enemies of the presence of one of her clan members.

Tsume hated the rain because it appeared that tragedy always seemed to befall her when it fell. The day the Kyuubi was finally defeated, her entire clan, save for herself and her daughter Hige, was wiped out in their effort to aid the Yondaime in what would turn out to be his final battle. She had been removed from the active duty roster earlier that year, as she had been pregnant with Kiba and was hospitalized for labor pains (1). It also marked the death of two of her best friends since childhood... the Yondaime Hokage, whom was a gennin teammate with her alongside Hyuuga Hizashi under Jiraiya, and Naruto's mother. That day, the rain fell from the sky in buckets, as if the heavens were mourning the loss of those who fought valiantly to defend the village.

Through the somber event, a ray of sunshine did manage to get through. Three days later, Kiba was born (2). It seemed that after the tragedy, life was returning to the village. As the villagers and her fellow ninja focused on rebuilding the village and repairing the wreckage, there was an overall sense of relief that the horror was finally over. Tsume had to agree. She may have been the sole survivor of her generation of her clan, but she could set forth in rebuilding it, starting with her family.

It was then that tragedy struck again five years later. Two weeks after the second anniversary of the defeat of the Kyuubi, the man she loved was forced away from her, partly by the demands of her village and partly by his duty to his own.

He was a young gennin ninja from the sizable, but strangely obscure ninja village of Hidden Sky when she met him. Like her own village, his too had teams of gennins instructed by a single jounin. As part of a treaty and goodwill, several ninjas were instructed by their Kage to reside in Konoha. His team- which consisted of himself, a quiet white-haired boy dressed in all black, and Naruto's mother- was one of the gennin teams that were allowed in. They were allowed to train with the local ninja, teaching and being taught, and to take missions for the Leaf. It was during their probationary period, where the foreign shinobi were watched at all times, that she and her team met them.

The white-haired boy- Zane, she remembered him saying his name was- was fairly quiet and aloof, yet managed to be such without giving off an air of superiority or arrogance. He didn't talk much about himself or his family, giving off an air of secrecy. When she was younger, she often wondered what he seemed to be hiding. One day, when on a joint-mission that required more than one team, she found one reason he was so quiet and secretive: his bloodline limit ability. His clan, the Hotoke, were descended from necromancers. The boy could create golems out of clay, mud, rock, bone dust, and even blood. On an escort mission to Swamp Country, their client, a diplomat from Monsoon Country seeking safe passage to the Village of Hidden Marsh, and they had been attacked by three B-class missing-nins from Hidden Rain after being separated from their Jounin senseis. During the battle, Zane had created mud and rock golems without the use of hand seals to help combat the enemy. When those didn't work as well as they wished, he was forced to throw out several vials of goat's blood to form the more powerful blood golems. The blood golems required quite a bit more chakra than his other golems, and required a series of hand seals that he needed time to complete. They bought Zane the necessary time he needed to form the Golems, and managed to even the tide before their senseis joined them and soundly defeated the enemy. The mission was a success, but it wouldn't mark the only time that Zane's bloodline limit would be seen.

Nartuo's mother, Yukishiro Tomoe, was the exact opposite of her son in personality. Where Naruto was loud and boisterous, she was quiet and demure. Where the son always sought attention, the mother always sought solitude. Where Naruto's physical features were light with his blonde hair and blue eyes, hers were dark with her black hair and onyx eyes. Even their academy experiences were different, with Naruto being dead-last and Tomoe being the number one rookie of her class. However, mother and son did share some qualities, such as the fierce protectiveness of their friends and loved ones, and a never-say-die attitude. Tsume herself was an outcast, as all members of the Inuzuka seemed to be due to their animalistic qualities and their close association with dogs. Tomoe had first struck her as one of the antisocial arrogant types that were rightfully but overly proud of their skills, much like Sasuke's father Uchiha Hiroshi did. However, the guest shinobi were being boarded with a particular gennin family, and being the only girl in the group she was housed with Tsume. As she got to know the girl over time, she realized that Tomoe was very similar to her. She was directly related to her village's Kage, his only daughter, and being such had put great pressures on her to perform on a level "worthy of the daughter of the Kage". Her father was the most skilled swordsman in her village, as expected of a Kage, and Tomoe was shaping up to be just as good, if not better. Rumor had it that she had an older brother just as skilled as her father that went missing on a mission without a trace three years prior to their meeting. Just as Tsume was seen by many as only as the daughter of the Inuzuka clan, many saw Tomoe as nothing more as the daughter of her village's Kage. In this commonality, camaraderie grew into friendship.

And finally her musings were brought to the love of her life, Heishiro Toki. He was about their son's current height at the time, which made him about half an inch taller than her in those days, with short-cropped raven black hair and green eyes. He was a fairly subdued and laid-back person, and had a hard time finding faults in people. He often played the role of peacemaker whenever their groups got into their scuffles, or when one of them had it out with another gennin of any village. Like Kiba, Tsume was brash, loud, and outspoken in her youth with little to no tact. Initially, the rough-and-tumble Inuzuka saw Toki as a overly passive weakling that would have never made it as a shinobi, and told him so on their first meeting. However, the boy had a way of aggravating the hell out of her without even trying, mainly because that none of her barbs on him got him worked up. Despite how he annoyed her, she recognized that he was kind to a fault, but was stern and forceful when he needed to be. He was loyal to his family and friends, and, like Tomoe and her son, determined to preserve their happiness however he could. Over the years, she began to admire his patience and determination. He was willing to look past the stereotypes that were placed on her family, and in an act of kindness extended his hand in friendship from their very first meeting to the day they fell in love.

He, like Tomoe, was being trained as a swordsman by his family. His style, however, was different. Tomoe's style, Watou Jutsu, was a style that incorporated a large amount of taijutsu into the sword kata and emphasized a balance of speed and power. The style was developed in a way so that it could be used without the sword, but was less effective and somewhat awkward. Regardless of this, it eliminated the need to learn a separate style of taijutsu. Toki, however, did not have such a luxury. His sword style was taught to him by his father and was heavily based on speed and precision, and while it did have some hand-to-hand elements, it was solely sword based. However, his mother had taught him her family taijutsu style Suzaku-Ryu, which emphasized an extreme chakra control ability to manipulate fire without the use of seals and incorporate it into taijutsu attacks. It could be taught to someone outside the family, but those of his mother's family had an easier time in mastering it due to the ability to manipulate the seal-less fire-to-chakra conversion like it was nothing. Toki may not have acted like he was shinobi material, but he was deadly when he went into action.

The first initial meeting was a bit rocky. A training exercise was devised by their Jounin senseis to test their abilities, which took form of a team versus team mock mission. Their team was to protect a scroll, while Toki's team was to steal it. The exercise took until sundown to complete as Toki's team failed to get the scroll several times, if only narrowly. By the end of the day, both teams were too exhausted to even care what happened to the damn scroll, and had degraded to childish antics. While Arashi, later to become the Yondaime Hokage, screamed at an impassive Zane in a fashion much like Naruto did with Sasuke, Tomoe and Hizashi stared each other down from where they were seated in their exhaustion as icily as each could muster. Tsume, however, was too tired to even think about having it out with any of their guests, and Toki just stood by the wayside, massaging his temples as if he had a massive headache. She watched as Arashi went from screaming like a banshee to wrestling with Zane, whose face was a mask of shock and surprise when he was grasped in a headlock by the future Hokage. This was followed up by Toki racing up to the two panicked, trying desperately to pry them apart. Soon their scuffle had escalated into a fist fight, and in an instant a double blow delivered by both Arashi and Zane sent Toki streaking across the field... and straight into a VERY compromising position on top of Tsume. Blushing, and with the inevitable cry of "PERVERT!", poor Toki was given a beating he would never forget.

From that day forward, Toki was always apologizing for the event. In truth, Tsume had actually enjoyed the closeness the two shared briefly- Toki certainly was easy on the eyes- but her pride would not allow her to admit it. It then came to pass that her gennin team would be the "sponsor" team for his, meaning that they became a six ninja team with two instructors. Days became weeks, weeks gave way to months, and months stretched into years. By the time the Chuunin Selection Exams rolled around when they were 13, the six gennin learned quite a bit in the course of events. For her team, Tsume had mastered three-quarters of her clan's techniques, Hizashi was proving to be the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan- much to the chagrin of the elders and his older twin Hiashi- and Arashi had been taken fully under Jiraiya's wing as his apprentice. For Toki's team, Toki himself had begun to learn more sword styles outside of his family style and proceeded to further mastery of his mother's taijutsu style; Zane had started learning more "interesting" techniques using his own blood and bone dust- which he got a regular supply of from Nara Shikato in exchange for a series of manga that was highly popular in his own country- and Tomoe had completely mastered Watou Jutsu.

The six had split into two teams and passed the Chuunin Exams with ease, the first time that any complete teams had passed in the history of Konoha. Afterwards, the team was pretty much disbanded. However, it was found by the higher ranking command shinobi that, over the course of team missions, Tsume, Toki, and Tomoe worked well together as a team, and the three were nominated to take the ANBU Corps Selection Test. Again, they passed, but with much more difficulty than expected. The test was followed by rigorous physical training and heavy class work on human anatomy, high level jutsus, and defensive techniques before the team members branched out into their specialization roles. Due to her higher sensory abilities, Tsume- with Kuromaru by her side- became the team's tracker. Toki, due to his ability to keep his cool in most situations, think hard and fast on his feet, and be highly persuasive, became not only the team captain, but the team information specialist and negotiator. Tomoe had become the weapons and combat specialist with her physical prowess and skill. A fourth member, Ito Yuta, was their medic-nin. Two months after they took the test, ANBU Corps Team 7 was born. Three years later, at age 17, their team was then inducted into the Hunter-nin Brigade. They were the youngest ANBU team to ever reach this position.

And it was three years later that war broke out between Fire Country and Earth Country, and thus Leaf and Stone. Arashi and Hizashi had since become jounins of the leaf, with Arashi being an instructor for a gennin team and Hizashi being assigned to the espionage units of the village due to his Byaakugan skills. Word came down from an informant within Earth Country that the Daimayo of the nation was hiring missing-nin for missions that he felt couldn't afford to assign the local shinobi to and stationing them on the border of Meadow Country. Leaf and Sand at the time had a shaky alliance of neutrality, and Mist was at the time occupied with assisting the Glacier and Monsoon countries in battling against and protecting Wave Country from the Thunder Country and their Hidden Cloud Shinobi, thus leaving the Leaf to assist Meadow Country and their Grass-nin alone. With this information, Tsume and her team were dispatched to the far edge of the Earth-Meadow border to investigate and possibly deal with the criminals as Arashi was sent to the front line and his team were ordered to destroy a bridge that would slow their progress into the smaller nation.

The information had been sour. When they arrived at the designated area, their team was ambushed by Marsh-nin. The Village of Hidden Marsh was deep within Swamp Country on the border of the Earth and Thunder Countries. The decent-sized nation was an off-branch of Earth Country and thus Hidden Stone, making it somewhat loyal to its roots... that is, if it had the money to buy its services. The ninja were skilled in poison use and swampland based attacks that manipulated the spread of disease and infection. They were incredibly ruthless and cutthroat, ready to turn rogue on its allies at a moment's notice. Tsume's team was not prepared for this development, and in the heat of the battle, she, along with Yuta, were incapacitated and taken hostage, whereas the Marsh-nins lost track of Toki and Tomoe in the fight, causing the mercenary-nins to believe that the two had either died or had abandoned their teammates.

The next three days were absolute hell. Tsume and Yuta were beaten, battered, and tortured in every way imaginable in a Marsh-nin encampment of 25 shinobi. The most disgusting aspect to the two Leaf Hunter-nins was that the Marsh shinobi seemed to be taking a sickening amount of pleasure in seeing the two suffer. Finally, on the fourth night, Tsume received a particularly nasty beating at the hands of the cell guard. This night, however, it was not enough, for the guard went straight into a rape attempt when he was finished. Tsume fought with all she had left, but it was not enough as she was severely weakened from beatings, torture, dehydration, and malnutrition. As she wept, she close her eyes tightly and waited for what she thought was the inevitable.

It never came. Suddenly she felt the guard lifted off of her, followed by a surprised yelp and crashing noises. Despite this, she kept her eyes tightly shut, fearing that it was a skirmish between the guards about who would get "first dibs" on her. It was only when she heard the familiar "fwoosh" of flame igniting, flesh hitting flesh, the sizzle of something being burned, and smelled the distinct odor of burning flesh did she open her eyes. Upon doing so, she again burst into tears, this time of relief and joy.

Not five feet away from her was Toki, beating the guard to within an inch of his life with a savagery that she had never seen in him before using Suzaku-Ryu. He had come to rescue her and Yuta.

With a final flare, Toki grasped the guard's throat with his still burning hand and tore his windpipe out, allowing the blue-grey mass of cartilage to drop to the floor in a partially charred lump. The wound never bled, as the heat from the flames encasing his hands cauterized the injury. Taking the keys from the guard- he would need them to free Yuta- he entered the cell and untied Tsume. The first thing the young Inuzuka did was fling herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably and thanking him over and over again, relieved that he was there. He drew her in closer to himself, whispering to her quiet reassurances and letting her know that everything was going to be all right. In that instant, she realized that what she had feared was not dying or being taken by the enemy. What she had feared was that she would never see Toki again, and that if she had lived through the ordeal that she would be so tainted that Toki would not want her.

In that instant, she had realized that she had fallen in love with him.

After Tsume had gotten her emotions under control, Toki carried her out of the cell and gave her a soldier pill to help restore her chakra and a blood pill for any blood loss she may have been suffering from. Setting her down on the cold hard ground, he went about finding the key to Yuta's cell. After what seemed like an eternity of trial and error, he found the right key and opened the cell, proceeding to unbind Yuta like he had done for her. As he dragged their unconscious medic-nin out of his cell, the wall of the brig exploded, showering them with dirt and clay. When the dust cleared, Tomoe stood before them, sword drawn, a series of vein-like track lines covering her face and hands, and covered head to toe in blood- some of it her own, most of it not. Toki handed Yuta over to Tomoe, picked up Tsume piggyback style, and gave a signal to the Yukishiro prodigy. Tomoe performed a series of hand seals, and explosions rocked the encampment. As the outpost burned to the ground, the four Leaf-nins made their escape back to their village. Twenty-five Marsh-nin were stationed at the encampment when Tsume and Yuta had been captured... not a single one of them were left alive by Toki or Tomoe.

It had taken three months for the two Hunter-nin to fully recover from the ordeal. During that time, their squad was decommissioned until the Tsume and Yuta were able to operate again. In the meantime, Toki was never far from Tsume. When she was in the hospital for the first month and a half, Toki was right by her side each and every day. A week after she was released, Tsume finally mustered up the courage to tell Toki how she felt about him. The rough and tumble daughter of the Inuzuka clan never had such a hard time speaking to someone. In fact, she developed a stutter that would make Hyuuga Hinata look eloquent that day.

His response had been simple, yet one that she would never forget. He simply smiled down at her- having grown to six foot two compared to her five foot eleven and three-quarters- drew her close to him, and kissed her deeply, telling her that she had captured his heart the first time he had seen her as a gennin.

They courted for the month and a half after she had gotten out of the hospital, the two seeming to be conjoined at the hip. Soon after she was released, so was Yuta. At the end of their rest period, the team was recommissioned and became the Leaf's recon and hit-and-run squad. Under the combined efforts of Arashi at the front lines, Hizashi in the espionage department, and the success of their hit-hard-and-run missions, the war was brought to an end in a little over a year.

After the war had ended, their Hunter-nin team disbanded. Tsume and Tomoe chose to take the rank of Jounin and reenter the ANBU Corps. This time, Tsume was the team leader due to her prior experience in the unit and the fact that Tomoe flat out refused the leadership position. Toki chose to become a Jounin instructor at the Hunter-nin Academy, occasionally taking missions when it was feasible to him. Yuta went on to become the director of the medic-nin training facilities at Shodaime Hokage General Hospital after Tsunade left the Leaf. Zane and Arashi, who had fought on the front lines for most of the war, returned as mission taking jounins, while Hizashi had since retired his position and took his place as head of the Hyuuga Branch Family, per the demands of the Hyuuga Elders and the request his brother Hiashi- who was trying to keep the peace in the family- while occasionally taking a mission for the village.

Getting Tsume's family to agree to a marriage with Toki was like pulling teeth. The family was one of the four biggest clans in all of Konoha, being in third place behind the first-place Uchiha clan and the second-place Hyuuga, yet slightly ahead of the fourth-place Aburame clan. As being such- not to mention the heir to the seat of clan head, something deemed "regrettable" by the elders because she was female- the clan leaders were intensely distrustful of outsiders and incredibly picky about mates for their members, regardless of whether they were from inside the clan or outside it. In fact, they were even worse with outsider suitors. However, Tsume's own parents had taken a liking to Toki, not to mention that he had the endorsement of the Hyuuga Branch and Main Families, the Sandaime Hokage, and the Kage of his own village. After some negotiating, Toki made an offer to the clan heads. He would not force Tsume to take his name when they married, nor would he take their name. Their offspring would bear the name Inuzuka instead of Heishiro. They would be trained in their clan's secrets, and if they showed the ability they would learn his clan's techniques as well. This, along with a large dowry offered by the Kage of his village himself and his own clan, cemented the deal. Four months later, they were married, and a year afterwards their daughter Hige was born.

Hige's birth brought about some serious changes for the new family. Toki chose to make the biggest sacrifice by becoming the full-time Jounin headmaster of the Gennin Academy. Tsume left the ANBU Corps to enlist in the Jounin squads. It paid less than the Hunter-nin and ANBU positions, but there was less of a chance of leaving Hige motherless as S-class missions were not as readily assigned to Jounins as they were to her previous positions. Keeping with the interests of her own family- as well as the clan's wishes- Tsume took mainly C-rank and B-rank missions, turned down A-ranks when she could, and flat out refused S-class missions, despite being capable of accomplishing them.

It would be two years later that Arashi became the Yondaime Hokage, and three years after that when he started courting Tomoe in secret. Only a handful of people in the village knew of their relationship: Toki and herself, Zane, the Sandaime Hokage, Yuta, and Jiraiya. Not even Hatake Kakashi, Arashi's prize pupil, knew of the relationship. Life continued as such in Konoha, as Sky-nin continued to filter in on the exchange program and mingle with the Leaf-nin, further building the relationship between the two nations. It was a year after their courtship that Arashi finally proposed to Tomoe in secret, with Tomoe turning up pregnant not three weeks afterwards. It seemed that the final warrior of Tsume's team was settling down, leaving Zane the only man out of their one-time six man party to be unattached.

Then, almost nine months later a disaster known as the Kyuubi struck. It's initial attack came seemingly out of nowhere, and with a wave of one of his tails the demon leveled the district that Arashi and Tomoe lived in, fatally injuring Tomoe and inducing an early birth for Naruto. No one knew where the demon came from or why it attacked Konoha, but it would have surely destroyed all of the village if it hadn't been for the efforts of the Inuzuka and Hyuuga clans. The two clans fought the monster to a standstill, keeping at bay long enough for Arashi to arrive with the newly-born Naruto and, with the assistance of Zane and Toki, succeeded in sealing the demon in his only son, forfeiting his life in the process. However, the battle was a costly one, in which the Inuzuka were all wiped out, save for Tsume herself and Hige, and the numbers of Hyuuga were reduced by a staggering two-thirds.

The following two years were tough. With the village in shambles and many lives destroyed, Tsume and Toki, after much discussion, donated a heavy portion of the Inuzuka clan's fortune and property to the village to help ease the pain of the lost homes and loved ones, especially for the orphans that the demon created. With a large amount of money and property given away, Toki had to leave his position at the Gennin Academy to become a mission taking ninja while Tsume spent time with Hige and the newborn Kiba. However, the worst part of the aftermath was they could do nothing but donate their money to ease the inevitable suffering that Naruto would endure. Time and time again, Tsume and Toki tried to adopt the only son of the Yondaime, and time and time again they were denied by the village council. When asked why, the council always gave the same response: that they had two children of their own, had just lost their entire clan, and depleted a lot of their equitable assets to assist their village. Thus, they had more to worry about with their own issues than they did with the young vessel. While there was some truth in their words, Toki and Tsume knew the real reason behind their denials. The majority of the villagers, many of the shinobi, and most of the council viewed Naruto not as the vessel that held the demon at bay, but as the demon itself. However, the demon- as they saw the child- was now in a position where it was vulnerable and helpless, thus making them superior to it. Therefore, they could make it suffer and gain their retribution for destroying the lives of many innocent people. The mentality was glaringly obvious, and it sickened the young couple to no end how the child was treated. To this day, Tsume still hated the council, the villagers, and many of her peers for their bigoted and unjust treatment of the boy.

As they continued to petition the council for custody of Naruto, the young couple went on with their lives, rebuilding what they could. Half a year after the attack, Toki took on a team of Gennin. They were the dead-last trio of that years class, but with the proper instruction and a lot of hard work Toki sculpted them into one of the best shinobi teams to come out of the Academy. The three Gennin that he took under his wing often did D-rank missions for Toki and his wife, such as baby-sitting, and thus became an extended family for the young couple, seeing that Tsume had lost her entire clan and two of the three children were orphans- a boy that lost his parents to the Kyuubi and a girl whose parents died while on a mission. Nearly a year after he had become their Jounin instructor, the team took the Chuunin exams. They had passed on their first try, and even though the team was disbanded, the three still came around, whether it was to visit their family or to ask for assistance with any training. The orphan boy showed a propensity for chakra control. Seeing this, Toki took him under his wing and taught him Suzaku-Ryu.

It was two years later that disaster stuck for the family yet again, and doubly so for the Sky-nin community of Konoha. After the attack of Kyuubi, the Konoha council set forth in an attempt on finding out where it had come from, how it ended up near Konoha, and why it had attacked. After four years of investigating the site of arrival, the site of battling, and many reconnaissance missions into foreign countries, and a year of analyzing the information gathered it was discovered that the village of Hidden Shadow, Hidden Sky's long term nemesis, had unleashed the Kyuubi from a location known only as "The Void". Hidden Shadow had been investigating something that would give them an edge in their ongoing struggle against Hidden Sky, and in doing so they cut loose one of the most destructive powers known to mankind. This was all Konoha could glean from their investigation, besides the fact that the site of the Kyuubi's arrival was actually an old shrine that, with the right artifacts and incantations, would open a portal to "The Void".

The findings of the investigation had serious consequences. The Council made snap decisions and outright accused the village of Hidden Sky, who had aided Konoha in the war with Stone and against the Kyuubi, of dragging their age-old conflict with Shadow to Fire Country. They blamed all of the death and destruction on the country that had been allies with them for so many years, and demanded that all Sky-nins depart from Konoha as soon as possible. At the same time, a summons came from their Kage, notifying the Sky-nin that war had broken out between Sky and Shadow and that the shinobi in Konoha would be required to return until the fighting was over. However, with the Konoha council demanding that the Sky-nins leave and never return, the only thing the Sky Shinobi could do was pack up and leave. Those with families were allowed to take them along, but only if they were not registered shinobi of Konoha. Because of this, Toki was torn away from the friends and family that he adored.

Not all was lost. Those Sky-nins that were displaced from any family members in Konoha were allowed correspondence to their families. Toki wrote letters to his wife and children on a regular basis, only once lapsing because the fighting between Sky and Shadow became too heated to afford the time to write for nearly a year and a half. Tsume, now without a counterpart to help her raise her children, was forced to return to the active duty rosters as a Jounin. However, she made the choice to raise their children in a manner that didn't reflect the hatred the adults displayed. In the future Tsume would tell Hige and Kiba that Naruto was the target of misplaced grief and anger. She even went as far as telling Hige that Naruto was actually a hero for the burden he carried, as she was old enough to remember the Kyuubi attack. The young Inuzuka took greatly after her father, and took her mother's words to heart, becoming something of an older sister to the boy when she could. Kiba, while upset that his father could not be with him, treasured the letters sent specifically to him. He was also the first friend that Naruto ever had in the Academy, a relationship Tsume- and Toki, through his letters- greatly encouraged, even if the two were constantly in trouble because of Naruto's need for attention and Kiba's rough-and-tumble attitude that he inherited from her. Tsume may not have had much contact with the young vessel, having to support herself and her family and thus was always away on missions, but felt as though he was an extension of her family.

It was for the reason that her only son and the only child of her best friends were out in the forest near the Valley of the End fighting for their lives that she found herself bounding though the trees with Kuromaru at her side. The Inuzuka matriarch had just returned from a week-long reconnaissance mission with Kuromaru at her side, and was hoping to spend time relaxing and perhaps spending some time with her children. Upon submitting her report directly to Tsunade-sama, the woman broke the news to her that Kiba had been sent on a very dangerous mission to retrieve the last Uchiha. When she learned that not only her child but also Naruto, several other promising Gennin, and a rookie Chuunin were up against four Sound-nin of at least Jounin rank, she rushed out of the Hokage Tower, ignoring the screams of protest that her superior was giving her. Her first stop was at the hospital, where she informed her daughter, who had chosen to become a medic-nin and veterinarian after her Chuunin Exam, of the situation. In an instant, Hige dropped everything she was doing and, with another stop at the Inuzuka home to pick up her counterpart Taishomaru and her personal medical equipment, the two took off into the forest with their canine companions in tow to find the young Gennins, speeding by a returning Kakashi.

Using Kuromaru and Taishomaru as their trackers, the two women honed in on Kiba and Akamaru's scent and made a straight beeline towards the boy. They found their clan members not deep within the forest alongside the Sand Gennin Sabakuno Kankuro. Kiba was unconscious with Akamaru in his arms. He had a self inflicted wound to his lower renal area among other cuts, bruises, and broken bones. Kankuro was doing the best job he could to keep he boy alive, but had no practical knowledge of emergency medical techniques or medical jutsus. Upon arriving on the site, Hige immediately sprang into action, field-dressing Kiba's wounds and stabilizing broken bones and other injuries with her tools as Tsume created a stretcher out of some materials she had brought with her, all while ordering Kankuro around in assisting her- something he only grudgingly obliged.

"He's stable," her daughter told her, "but unless I get his sorry ass back to Konoha he'll take a turn for the worse."

This elicited a sigh from the Inuzuka matriarch, relieved that her only son had a fighting chance to survive the ordeal. She then turned to Kankuro, ignoring the ghastly appearance of his puppet.

"Did you happen to run into any of the others?" The Jounin asked him.

"From what I understand, several more of them are up ahead... Not really sure who's where, though..." the boy with the face paint replied with a shrug, causing the woman to grunt in an irritated manner.

"Shit... this is great..." She grumbled out. The woman gazed on Kiba, contemplating her next course of action. She then addressed her companions.

"Hige, you and the Sand kid start heading towards Konoha and get him to a hospital. I'm going to go on ahead and find the others if I can."

"But what if they're injured? You hardly know any medical jutsus. You won't be able to stabilize them if they're in a critical condition." She responded.

"I'll do the best I can... you just worry about your brother."

"But mom..." Hige started, only to be silenced by a sharp glare her mother gave her, causing her protests to die on her lips.

"I know you want to help, dear, but as you said, Kiba needs immediate attention. With you around, he has less of a chance of taking a turn for the worse."

Her features softened before continuing.

"Don't worry... I'll make sure he's fine."

Hige and her mother locked eyes silently for less than a minute before the eldest Inuzuka child sighed and shook her head in resignation, signifying her grudging approval, while Kankuro wondered who specifically this "he" the woman spoke about was. Tsume smiled at her child.

"Take care of him, dear." She said, turning away to continue her search. However, she was stopped short by a voice she hadn't heard in many years.

"DAMN IT, TSUME! WHAT THE _HELL_ DID YOU DO TO PISS THE HOKAGE OFF THIS TIME!"

Tsume turned around in time to see three medic-nins arrive on the scene. One was a nondescript man that was fairly young that she had never met before. In all likelihood, a new medic-nin. The man was dressed in the typical white garb of the Konoha medic-nin attire, with an added white mask over his face similar to the one Kakashi wore (3). The second figure was none other than Shizune, the Godaime Hokage's confidant and traveling companion, clad in her black kimono and heeled shoes. The third figure was a man of medium height with cropped short raven black hair and bright emerald green eyes. Instead of the traditional white medic-nin garb, he wore a black version of the blue ninja outfit, the typical green jounin vest, and black combat boots instead of the typical open-toed shoe most ninjas wore. Over this he wore a shock white leather trench coat that came halfway down his calves with scroll pouches sewn to the chest and deep pockets. On both arms the medical cross, clad in red, was embolized. His Konoha hitae-ite was proudly displayed on his head, the steel plate mounted to a black cloth instead of a blue one.

Tsume smiled. It had been a while, but she would recognize the form and figure of arguably the best medic-nin in Konoha next to the current Hokage. It was her long time friend and teammate, Ito Yuta.

In response to Yuta's question, Tsume simply smirked before responding verbally.

"That old bat was pissed for me bolting on her? Why on earth for?"

"How should I know!" her former teammate responded hotly, "All I know is that she was stark raving mad when she called us into her office. All I could really understand from her ranting was something about insubordinate shinobi, besides the fact that she sent us out to find these kids!"

"I think she should have thought this entire mission through before she decided to send gennins after jounin-level ninja!" replied Tsume with equal steam, "They may be promising, but this was nothing short of suicide! Kiba is in awful condition and the Gods only know what kind of condition the others are in..."

"Please, Inuzuka-san, try to understand," pleaded Shizune, "Hokage-sama decided on what she thought was the best course of action we could take at the moment!"

"Best course of action my ass! This is an A-class mission that borders dangerously on S-class! It should have been given to the ANBU Corps or the Hunter-nins, hands down!"

"Tsume, please," Yuta annoyedly replied, having cooled off a bit, "You know very well that we're still hurting from the last invasion. Our forces have been cut by at least a fourth. We're spread so thin that most of our able-bodied Chuunins have been taking missions that rank up to A, while several Jounins have been saddled with S-ranks. The ANBU have taken on heavy border patrol, and most of our Hunter-nins are away from the village for extended periods of time. We just graduated a class and the next one won't be ready for at least another year. With the options that were available, this was all she could do!"

The Inuzuka matriarch growled lowly, ready to retort again, only to be cut off by the third medic present.

"As amusing as this is," the man started, "it would probably be best if we get moving. The longer we wait, the worse off those gennins will be."

Yuta sighed.

"Yuichiro is right, Tsume. We can discuss this later. Right now all that matters is getting those kids back to Konoha."

Tsume growled lowly, but kept her silence and nodded. The time for debate would come, and she was certain that she was going to get an earful from Tsunade when she returned to Konoha for her actions.

In less than a minute the four were off into the forest again, with Kuromaru tracking the gennins using materials that Shizune took the liberty of collecting for each of the boys before leaving Konoha. Within a few minutes they came across a thin and emaciated Chouji. A quick diagnosis by Yuta determined that the boy was suffering from a severe case of chakra depletion, not to mention some internal damage due to the use of the three pills. After wrapping the boy in some medical seals and applying some chakra to stabilize him the begin the healing process, Yuichiro hoisted the now-thin Akamichi to his back and headed off towards Konoha.

As soon as Yuichiro sped off to back to the village, the remaining shinobi and canine sped forward into the forest yet again, continuing their search. They traveled for what seemed to be forever through the thick foliage before the ferrous scent of blood assaulted their senses. Coming to a halt, they noticed not more than twenty feet away lied the battered form of Hyuuga Neji. Closing in on the boy, it was noticed that a large, gaping hole in his right shoulder. It was automatically assumed that there was probably significant blood loss. Less than thirty seconds was all it took for the two medics to determine that Neji was alive and the severity of his condition. Springing into action, Yuta and Shizune covered the wound with an occlusive dressing (4), completely covering the wound in the back and the front, but allowing one edge of the bandage to remain unbound. As with Chouji, Neji was also bound with medical seals and treated with healing chakra to help stabilize him. As an added precaution, Yuta removed a small vial of medicine from his pocket, along with a syringe and a Sharps container (5). With deft movements, the former hunter-nin drew some of the medication into the syringe, forced some out to remove any air bubbles, and injected it into the young Hyuuga. As he was placing the syringe in the Sharps container, he looked up and noticed the look of curiosity on Tsume's face.

"Liquid blood pill," he explained, placing the vial and needle-containing Sharps container into his pocket, "he's unconscious and can't swallow, meaning he can't protect his airway. This means that if we try to force a blood pill down his throat, we run the risk of causing him to choke on it. We don't have the materials to perform a blood transfusion in the field, so this is the best alternative he have. In using this, we get his body to speed up the hematopoietic processes and replenish the lost blood on it's own (6). It's only a temporary fix, though. We need to get him medical attention in a hospital."

Tsume nodded in understanding as Yuta fished a radio headset out of his deep pockets and put it on. He activated it, fiddled with the controls for a bit, and attempted to contact someone on it. After about five minutes he got someone on the other end. A short, three minute conversation occurred before he nodded his head and gave a sign off signal before removing his hand from the transmit button.

"A team of medic-nins have run into Hige and Yuichiro and are assisting them as we speak. Another team will be on our location shortly, fifteen minutes at most. One of us will have to stay here and monitor his condition while two of us look for the others." Yuta informed them.

"I have it covered," Shizune said, "you two go on ahead."

With a nod, the two began their journey again, but not before Shizune called to them. Or rather, one of them.

"Yuta!"

The medic and dog master stopped and turned around to face the woman, whose face was full of concern and worry.

"Take care of Naruto for me... please..."

The two medics locked eyes briefly before Yuta smiled at her. Wordlessly, he gave her an informal salute, then turned around and continued on his way with his former teammate.

Again time seemed to stretch on endlessly as the two covered ground towards the other gennins. The two first ran into Shikamaru and the female Sand gennin that participated in the Chuunin Exams, Sabakuno Temari. After a quick examination of both- despite the insistence from Temari that she was fine- and the resetting and splinting of Shikamaru's finger, the two were questioned about the others. Yuta updated them with what he could on their conditions, including Chouji's current state. He then cleared the both of them for travel and told them to return to Konoha as soon as possible. The two tracking ninja then took off in a direction indicated by Shikamaru in order to find the last member of their team, Uzumaki Naruto.

Within a ten minutes, the two found themselves in a field, and to their surprise found two gennins that they were not expecting: Rock Lee and Sabakuno Gaara. After a quick checkup on Lee and Gaara- who let down his sand defenses to allow it- Yuta questioned the two about Naruto and Sasuke. While Gaara was unable to answer them, Lee managed to indicate what happened when he arrived, and indicated the direction in which the two had gone. As with Shikamaru and Temari, Yuta cleared the two for travel, but told Lee not to overexert himself. With that, the two took off again, this time hoping to find the vessel and the last Uchiha.

If Tsume thought that the first parts of the trip were taking forever, then this particular portion of the excursion felt like an eternity. Although the Inuzuka matriarch didn't show it outwardly, she was wrought with worry about the young blonde. The last link to her best friends was out in this forest, and was most likely in serious condition. She shuddered at the thought of him being dead. If that were the case, there would be hell to pay... the Sound, the last Uchiha, and even her own village would pay for it in blood.

Finally the two broke out of the foliage and arrived at the Valley of the End. Upon coming to a halt on the cliff side, they gazed down amazed at the condition of the landscape.

"Kami-sama... did those two cause this much damage themselves?" Yuta asked rhetorically in awe.

Surveying the site, the two noticed lying amongst the rubble and craters two bodies, one clad in black and one clad in orange, soaked to the bone from the rain. Neither were moving.

A lump formed in Tsume's throat as she her worst fears were surfacing. Were they too late? Would she lose her own son as well?

Yuta was the first to move. Moving quickly, he surveyed the blonde first, checking his ABCs (7) and physically examining his body, checking for any broken bones and injuries. Upon finishing, he sighed in relief and turned to Tsume.

"He's alive. He's got quite a few broken ribs, some nasty lesions and lacerations, and is suffering from a severe case of chakra exhaustion. Judging by what blood I can see on his lips, he's probably bleeding internally."

Tsume let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. She was glad that the son of the Yondaime was still alive.

With that, Yuta took out a package of medical seals and threw them at Tsume. Surprised by the action, she caught them awkwardly. Looking up from the seals, she saw the medic injecting the blonde boy with the same substance that he injected Neji with.

"I taught you how to do the basics," he started, again putting the needle into a Sharps container. He placed that container and the vial into his pocket before adding "That's all we can do for him right now, other than give him that liquid blood pill. Bind him up and give him some chakra while I look over the traitor."

Tsume rushed over as soon as Yuta finished giving his instructions. She started out by dragging the boy to a nearby overhang to protect them from the rain. As the medic-nin tended to the young avenger, Tsume quickly bound the boy in the most vital parts of the body as she was taught. First, she cut away his jacket and shirt, wrapping the seals around the side walls of his chest and adhering two shorter ones to his armpits. She wrapped one seal around his head, being sure not to wrap it too tightly. She then pulled off his shoes and wrapped a couple of short ones to his feet. She then cut his pants and boxers away and placed one on his groin. Once the boy was completely naked she pulled a reflective blanket she had in her weapons pouch and wrapped the boy in it. As soon as she was done she turned to see Yuta approaching them with Sasuke in his arms. He joined her and the unconscious blonde underneath the overhang and proceeded to do the same as she did. The Inuzuka matriarch noticed that two of Sasuke's limbs were splinted, with his left leg in a traction device. Once he was done he sighed and leaned back on the rock wall behind him. He took off his hitae-ite and wiped his brow, sighing as he did (8).

"Oi... what a day."

As the two sat waiting for the rain to stop, Tsume's nose picked up the scent of someone familiar, despite the deluge from above. She growled slightly. It figures that _he_ would show up now of all times.

Fifteen minutes later, Hatake Kakashi arrived in the clearing just as the rain let up. Briefly he surveyed the scene, taking in the level of destruction the two caused before resting his eyes on them. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed his summon and approached his comrades. As soon as he was within range, he was assaulted in a way that he was accustomed to being attacked.

"YOU ARE_ LATE_, YOU BASTARD!"

Kakashi winced at the shrill cry that Tsume gave him, sticking his finger in his ear and twisting it.

"Maa, Inuzuka-san... careful with that voice of yours. You could make a person deaf with it."

"Not that it would make any difference to you, Hatake-san. You'd probably be late if you were blind, deaf, _and_ dumb." Put in the only medic-nin present.

"Not you, too, Ito-san!" the copy-nin replied.

Yuta only glared at him before grinning and shrugging his shoulders. His face then took on a serious look.

"The boys are stable, but we better not dally. Let's get to back to Konoha. We'll brief you on the way there."

The other adults nodded. Tsume gathered up Naruto into her arms and started stalked out from underneath the overhang. Standing up to her full height, she shifted Naruto in her arms a bit before Kakashi approached her.

"Inuzuka-san, I'll take him if he's too much of a burden for you."

Tsume only glared at Kakashi, causing him to gaze at her with his only exposed eye with confusion. Why was she acting so hostile towards him?

"I'll be fine Hatake-san. You just be sure to care for your other _student_." She replied, spitting out the word as if it were something vile. With that, she bounded off with the blonde gennin, leaving a bewildered and puzzled Kakashi in her wake.

Kakashi turned to Yuta. The medic could only shrug.

"Sasuke is going to be difficult to carry," he said, "mind giving me a hand."

Wordlessly, Kakashi sauntered over to Yuta. Carefully , he grabbed the handles on the cheap vinyl stretcher Sasuke had been placed by the medic at his feet, his back turned to Yuta and his student. He looked back and watched as Yuta grabbed the ones at Sasuke's head. Nodding, the two lifted him in unison, and took of into the woods, on their way to Konoha.

* * *

As soon as twenty minutes passed after their departure, a nearby patch of grass overlooking the valley shifted. Slowly, a what seemed to be an oversized Venus flytrap emerged from the grass. It continued to emerge at its current rate. After a few minutes, the emerging "plant" was revealed to have a torso, along with arms and legs. As soon as the being was steady, it dusted off its black cloak that was decorated with red clouds, signifying it as a member of the Akatsuki. The flytrap then opened up, revealing the face of a man with short hair. There was just enough darkness in the flytrap body to disallow any other features to be determined. 

"Well now... things have certainly taken an interesting turn." the man stated, walking over to the edge of the valley to survey the remnants of the combat.

He breathed in the fresh air, enjoying it after being stuck observing the battle in the dirt for the past few hours. He then simply nodded to himself.

"Yes... the boss will definitely want to know of this development."

* * *

The guards of the gates of Konoha eyed the five figures in front of them warily. Three were male, while two were female, all of different statures. 

The tallest of the group stood at least six foot nine with a highly toned, defined, and massive musculature. We was dressed in a black outfit not unlike the standard Konoha garb with his pants tucked into his militaristic black boots. The shirt he wore was sleeveless, allowing all to see his massively built arms. He wore a pair of banded steel arm guards, mounted to fingerless black leather gloves that went up three-quarters of his arms. His face was covered in a blood red scarf that trailed down to his mid-back, totally obscuring his face from his nose down from view, including most of his neck. His short hair was as white as fresh snow, and his face beheld a set of striking green eyes. Over his right arm a midnight black cloak was draped, and strapped to his back was a rather large and wicked looking scythe.

The shortest of the group was a boy no older than twelve, probably five foot two. His outfit was covered by a black cloak that was similar to the one the giant had in his arm, and he too had a scythe strapped to his back, albeit a little smaller. The only part of his outfit exposed outside his cloak was his footwear, which were a black version of the open-toed shoe most Konoha shinobi wore, and fingerless gloves that had a metal back plate to them. He too shared the white hair and green eyes with the giant, signifying a possible relationship between the two, and had a round face that was just beginning to lose it's baby fat.

The first woman of the group was about five foot six with wavy locks of chestnut brown hair that reached to the middle of her back. She wore what seemed to be a hybrid of an evergreen traveling kimono and long Chinese dress with gold bordering. It was sleeveless, and the slit on the dress ran from mid-thigh to her feet, allowing her free range of movement. Her legs were covered with white stockings that came up to about where the slit of the dress began, and her feet were covered with a pair of black slippers. The woman was a picture of sheer beauty, with a nicely-sized bosom, slim waist, long legs, and a beautiful angular face that held an expressive pair of sky blue eyes. Like the boy, she too had fingerless gloves with a metal back plate. A wooden and intricately designed staff was strapped to her back

The second woman was slightly taller at five foot ten with straight posterior-length black hair and brown eyes held in a lovely heart-shaped face. She was dressed fairly tomboyish in a red silk Chinese shirt that had sleeves that came down over her hands. The shirt had white bordering, solid brass clasps, and a high neck. Her fingers were the only part of her hand that was exposed, but it revealed enough to show that she also had the same fingerless gloves as the other woman and the boy. Hers, however, seemed to be slightly thicker than the others. She wore a pair of black silk pants and black slippers similar to those worn by her female companion. While her clothing hid most of her curves from view, it could be gleaned that the woman was most likely absolutely stunning.

The last male was a tall man, though not as tall as the giant, at six foot two with raven black hair that went down to the middle of his back with green eyes and a handsome angular face. Unlike his female companions, who wore their hair loose, he bound his at the base of his head in a ponytail. He wore what appeared to be a black pair of cargo pants tucked into a pair of thick black boots. Any shirt he wore was obscured from view by his ninja vest that was an exact replica of the Konoha Chuunin/Jounin vest, save for it's matte gunmetal color. Over this he wore a black trench coat that came down to his ankles. The sleeves came down over his arms to his wrists, allowing for it to be seen that he wore solid steel arm guards mounted to fingerless black leather gloves. Strapped on his back was a katana in a glossy black sheath.

All of the newcomers, save for the boy, had kunai holsters and shuriken pouches viewable to the guards. Every single one of them wore their hitae-ites proudly on their heads, signifying the five were from a ninja village. It was an unusual design for the village emblem, for it was a set of crossed arrows pointing towards the sky, engraved over the shilouette of a rising bird in flight.

A few moments of uneasy silence passed between the guards and the five travelers. Finally, one guard mustered up his courage and approached the group. Speaking clearly and with authority, he addressed them.

"Who are you, and what is your business in Konoha?"

The man in the trench coat stepped forward.

"We are ambassadors from Air Country and the Village of Hidden Sky. We have been sent by our leader, the Kamikage, to negotiate a treaty with the Leaf. It is our hope that we can once again foster the brotherhood that once thrived between our two countries."

To be continued...

Authors Notes:

And yet another chapter. As stated in the last one, I originally had this and the prologue as one large chapter, but split it.

People might wonder why Tsume was so harsh on Kakashi. Tsume may not have had much contact with Naruto, but she's still fiercely protective of him as he is the son of her two best friends. When she learned of how Kakashi foisted him off during the Chuunin Exams (most likely through Naruto telling Kiba- more on this later in the fic), needless to say that she was a bit miffed at what she saw as blatant favoritism. To be honest folks despite how much I like Kakashi I am still somewhat displeased with how he treated Naruto during the Chuunin Exams. Say what you will, a teacher does not abandon a student in need, and what Kakashi did was essentially this. So Kakashi will be put through the wringer a little bit in the first few chapters, but I won't be overly cruel to the man.

In case you all haven't figured it out, this story will be taking a huge deviation from the cannon series. I already have a vision of what I want to happen and how it ends... getting there is half the battle though. I'm currently taking four 400-level biology courses, two of which are stacked with 600-level (this means cross-listed with GRADUATE courses). Both of those classes have labs, and one has independent research to it. So I'll most likely be fairly busy and most likely not be able to update until the summer, depending on how heavy I'm working. I won't be abandoning my projects any time soon, though, and I'll try to keep them going.

Sorry if this got a little technical on you. I'm an EMT-I (EMT-B in some areas) with hopes of going to medical school, and couldn't help but use my knowledge as I wrote this particular part. Everything should be explained in the notes at the end.

So far, the only pairings I've worked out so far are Naruhina, IruHige, and quite possibly ShizuYuta. More on these as I work on the story.

Until then, fare thee well, and happy reading!

1,2) I know Kiba's birthday is in August, but bear with me. You know, AU and all.

3) I'm feeling really lazy right now, so I'm not describing it. If you're reading this, I'm assuming that you've read chapter 235 of the manga. If not, you can download it at Narutofan. The image on page five is what I'm talking about here.

4) An occlusive dressing covers an open chest wound. It seals the wound and prevents the further loss of oxygen through it, but allows the care provider to release any tension that builds up by simply lifting the open end up, allowing the trapped air to escape.

5) A container to put dirty, used needles and blades into. Reusing them is a bad idea, as it can spread disease.

6) A basic tenet of emergency care is to protect the airway of the victim. If the airway is blocked in any way, it cuts off the oxygen supply to the victim, and could very well suffocate him or her. Also, hematopoietic means "blood generating". Yuta is referring to the processes within the body that makes the red blood cells.

7) The ABCs are the three basic rules of emergency care: airway, breathing, and circulation. Make sure the victim has an airway, is breathing, and has a pulse. If the airway is blocked, it must be cleared if possible. If the victim is not breathing, he or she must be provided with a moving source of oxygen until he or she can breathe on his or her own. If there is no circulation, then there is most likely no breathing even in the presence of an airway, meaning that CPR must be performed.

8) This was a very smart move on their part. By getting the them out of their wet clothing, Yuta and Tsume manage to prevent the onset or worsening of hypothermia. Remember, it doesn't have to be cold to get hypothermia. Several other factors also play into it. Also, I'm using the main areas that heat is lost (i.e. where Tsume and Yuta put the seals at) as the major chakra flow points of the body, and thus placing them there will do the most good.


	3. Chapter 2: Insanity's Lull

Standard Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, or any other series that may be used in this fic. They belong solely to the wonderful people that have written them. This is the result of spending too much time indoors during cold Alaska weather and watching too much anime.

Inheriting Insanity

A Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin/Soul Calibur Crossover

By SourdoughAK

Chapter 2 - Insanity's Lull

"Well, shit... this is great..."

Inside Hokage Tower, four Sky shinobi sat patiently awaiting an audience with the Hokage. As these four sat, the apparent leader of the group, the long-haired man in the trench coat, paced back and forth like a caged animal that was stalking its cell perimeter as if it were waiting for a chance to break free. They had not been waiting long, perhaps an hour or so. In fact, the four sitting shinobi were content to wait as long as it took as they were able to amuse themselves in various ways. The giant sat on a cushy chair near the only window of the waiting room, gazing down on the busy streets of Konoha and watched as people went about their day. The young white haired boy produced a small black book from the confines of his robes and spent most of the time reading as he sat between the two kunoichi on a cushy couch. The honey-haired kunoichi on his right passed her time reading as well, only her book could be identified as a work on botany, specifically those important for medicinal purposes, while the black-haired woman on his left produced a length of string from her weapons pouch, tied it together, and proceeded to play with it, weaving it into intricate patterns many thought weren't possible to do by hand.

The man in the trench coat started out by sitting on one of the cushy chairs like the one the giant sat in next to the couch that the two kunoichi and the boy sat on in the waiting room across from the Hokage's office. Twenty minutes passed with him sitting rather patiently. Ten minutes later had him shifting in his seat as if he was trying to get comfortable. Ten minutes after that, the man started shaking his left leg, bouncing it rapidly on the ball of his foot. In another five minutes the man got restless enough to get out of his seat and pace back and forth in front of his companions, acting as if he needed to be somewhere and eager to be set free. He was ignored for the first ten minutes of this, his companions thinking nothing odd of his behavior. They just chalked it up to the anxiety of meeting an important official. They all knew that he wasn't the best of diplomats, and was more of a doer than a thinker. However, it was when he started an aggravated grumbling session for five minutes straight that the others pried their attention from their activities to watch him attempt to wear down the carpeting of the lobby, along with the ANBU guards stationed at the door in front of the office.

The pacing man grumbled, casting an annoyed glance at the clock, glaring at it as if doing so would speed the hands forward.

"What the _hell_ is taking them so long to see us?" he growled out, scowling at the accursed contraption that mocked him with its incessant ticking.

"Ne, Heishiro-sensei, calm down. For all we know, they might be busy with some sort of important business." stated the white-haired boy.

The boy's words seemed to have the effects he desired with him, as the man closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to soothe his nerves before straightening up and opening them up. He turned his gaze on the boy with a smile.

"Oi, Toki-san," started the black-haired woman from her seat, "we've never seen you like this before. Usually you're the calm one in the situations we find ourselves in. What gives?"

The long haired man in the trench coat, now identified as Heishiro Toki of Hidden Sky, sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I know, Lachesis... I'm just a little eager to get this show on the road. Its been a while since I've been in Konoha. I left behind something important when I last lived here. I want to go find it, and I also have some personal things that I need to take care of here. I'd like to go about my business as soon as possible."

The mention of his past residence in Konoha sparked the interest of his companions, save for the giant, especially the white-haired boy, who was now on the edge of his seat.

"Honto! You used to live here?" He chirped with excitement, eliciting a chuckle from the ladies and Toki, as well as a set of eyes crinkled in amusement from the white-haired giant. It was no secret to them that the boy idolized Toki to a great degree.

Toki smiled at the boy and nodded.

"That's right, Zander. Many years ago, when your father and I were genins and your age, we had a treaty with the Leaf that enacted a shinobi exchange program with this nation. Our genin team was one of the few that were chosen to participate. We spent our youths here before the Sky-Shadow War broke out. We passed the Chuunin Selection Exam on our first try here due to the cooperation between our team and our host team. I even spent time in the ANBU Corps and the Hunter-nin Brigade here."

"Wow! That's amazing!" The boy breathed, voicing the thoughts of the room's occupants. The women were now quite interested in his story, as they spent much time with the man in his battle squads. He was often quiet and never spoke unless it was necessary to do so. In doing so, he never really spoke of his past during the war.

"Ne, Toki-san, did you know the Yondaime Hokage?" Asked the honey-haired woman beside the white haired boy named Zander. Toki responded with a smile as the giant gave off raspy noises that sounded a lot like chuckles.

"I did, Gaea" The swordsman replied as he gazed out the window to Hokage monument, focusing his eyes on the fourth face, "He was on the genin team that sponsored mine when Zane and I were here. You've heard stories of his prowess and how seriously he took his job, right?"

The woman, now known as Gaea, nodded. Seeing this, Toki continued.

"Well, as a boy he was rather rambunctious. Loud and obnoxious in every way you could imagine. He was also one hell of a prankster, too, and was always in trouble for one thing or another... especially with his jounin sensei and an old teammate of his."

Toki chuckled lightly before continuing.

"The first time we met our senseis devised a training exercise for us to go through. By the end of the day we were so tired that we were fighting like school children. Zane's attitude back then rubbed Arashi the wrong way, and got him so riled up that he started screaming at him. When that had no effect on him, Arashi really lost it and grabbed him in a headlock. The two started wrestling around and eventually started a fist fight. It took the combined efforts of both our jounin senseis to pry them apart."

The room shared a collective laugh, while the white haired man blushed slightly from underneath his scarf. Even so, his eyes were folded up in amusement and he rubbed the back of his head with one of his massive hands. Zander turned his attention to the man, focusing on him with an inquisitive gaze.

"Did that really happen, Dad?" He asked him.

The giant, now known to be Hotoke Zane of Hidden Sky and Zander's father, nodded. With his face still lit up with amusement, he raised his hands and began a series of gestures- some that were small and subtle and some that were larger and more involved- that could be recognized as a sort of sign language. As the man continued to motion, Toki's eyes widened in horror as he realized _exactly_ what Zane was telling everyone.

Within a few minutes, Zane was finished and silence washed over the entire room. Three pairs of eyes wide as dinner plates turned themselves onto the man in the trench coat. Toki began to sweat under their scrutiny. No doubt about it, Zane had told everyone present about the most embarrassing moment of his life.

The silence didn't reign for very long. Not five minutes later, Zander started snorting. Before long, the boy burst out in peals of laughter, falling from his seat and rolling on the ground, tears streaming from his eyes. The women soon followed, bowed over in their seats laughing hysterically. Zane sat in he seat, facing Toki. His eyes were crinkled upwards in a rainbow-like fashion, and although his face was covered Toki just _knew_ the man had a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

It would be a few minutes before the laughter died down and everyone calmed down before Zander asked another question upon returning to his seat, with Toki wanting to crawl under the largest rock in Mountain Country and never come out for the rest of his natural life.

"Ne, Heishiro-san, how mad did that girl get at you?" the white haired genin asked him.

"Mad enough to tie me into a pretzel that took her jounin sensei and ours a good three hours working _together_ to unravel me from and then leave me sore and bruised for a good month afterwards." He responded with a sigh. However, a smile betrayed his lips, signifying that although it was horribly embarrassing, it was one those precious moments of his life.

"Did she ever forgive you?" the boy followed up.

Still smiling, Toki rolled up the left sleeve of his coat, revealing his arm guards to be mounted to fingerless black leather gloves that covered his forearms. The guards were kept in place by a black reinforced lace that was strung in a crisscross pattern over the underside of the guard. With a deft movement, Toki loosened the knot at the base of the guard and untied it fully. He then loosened the guard enough to slip it off, exposing the tanned flesh hidden underneath it. With the guard off, he raised his hand up, the back of his hand facing his audience. What they saw surprised them all, save for the elder Hotoke.

On his left hand, a featureless golden yellow band proudly gleamed in the sunlight on his ring finger. There was no doubt about it to the women and the child. It was a wedding band.

"Does marrying me count?" Toki asked the child.

"Quite." he responded with sound finality.

"Wha... but... how? WHEN?" stuttered out the black-haired beauty named Lachesis.

"It was shortly after the Grass-Stone War," Toki replied as he donned the arm guard again, tying it as he spoke, "we were hunter-nins and our team had just gotten a mission to head to the border of Meadow and Earth Country to investigate reports of missing-nins being hired by Earth Country. We ended up walking right into an ambush by Marsh-nin. Because they had the element of surprise and some very unique jutsus that we had never encountered, she and our medic-nin ended up getting separated from us and captured. When we realized that they were gone, I became damn near hysterical. If it wasn't for Yukishiro-san, I would have gone headlong into their encampment alone and compromised the situation with no mode of attack whatsoever."

He paused to allow the information sink in before continuing, noticing that he had his audience's utmost and undivided attention.

"I know that it sounds clichéd, but I honestly fell in love with her the instant I met her when we were still genins. When we found out that she had been taken prisoner I was so afraid that I would never see her again. I wanted to be the one that she shared her secrets with. I wanted to share her burdens, and partake in the joys of her life. I had never been so scared for someone in my life, so much that my own well-being didn't matter.

"Luckily for us, we managed to be separated away with her animal companion. Her clan trains dogs to fight alongside them, and we managed to track her and our medic-nin down using him. After some careful planning and staging, Yukishiro-san and I attacked the encampment that we traced them to. Some carefully executed jutsus and traps took care of a good number of the ninja as they were mostly high genin to mid chuunin level- not to mention the devastating power of Yukishiro-san's bloodline possessed. After some searching with the help of her dog, we found her in a makeshift brig of clay and dirt, with the cells, oddly enough, made of wood. By the looks of things, she had been undergoing torture during the three days we were searching for her.

"I was lucky I found her when I did. When I rushed into the brig, the guard had just finished a beating and was attempting to rape her. When I saw her tears and the despair on her face, my vision went red. The bastard never got a chance to do the deed. I tore him off of her and beat him to within an inch of his life before I tore his windpipe out with my bare hands..."

Toki clenched his fists, reliving that day in his mind. Absent-mindedly, he gazed down to his right hand- the very one that grasped that mass of flesh and blue-grey cartilage while encased by flame, remembering the sickening squelch and snap of the tissue as it was ripped violently from the Marsh shinobi. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and continued his story.

"Shortly after I freed her and our medic, Yukishiro-san finished clearing out the camp and came looking for us. Once we were reunited, we burned down the encampment and returned to Konoha.

"It took about three months for the two to fully recover. The council gave us a six month rest period. During that time, I was always at the hospital with her. She was a fairly strong willed woman, and was quite annoyed when I started to wait on her hand and foot as she recovered."

Toki then got a bit of a faraway look in his eyes, his face plastered with a contented smile.

"It was about a week after she was released that she totally surprised me and confessed that she loved me, telling me that the only thing that worried her in that encampment was that she would never see me again. I felt like I was on top of the world. I felt like as though I was the luckiest man in the world, and that nothing could stand in my way for anything. I was complete.

"After the six month period, we went back on active duty, and shortly after that the war ended. Getting her clan to agree to a marriage was a pain in the ass, but we managed to do it, and we married four months after the war ended."

Toki then took off his hitae-ite and opened a flap that was sewn into the back of the fabric where the metal plate was mounted, producing a folded piece of paper. He donned his head guard again, unfolded the paper, and handed it to Zander.

It was revealed to be a photo of a smiling woman and two children, a boy and a girl. The woman in the picture looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties with a mane of long, untamed black hair that fell slightly past her shoulders, and an almond shaped face that held slitted onyx eyes with red markings on each cheek going down to her chin. She wore a deep evergreen kimono with gold wolves embroidered on it and a golden sash, wearing in a way that made her look absolutely stunning. Examining the children, the girl looked to be about age eight and boy age three. Both had the black hair, slitted onyx eyes that seemed slitted, and red markings on their cheeks that the woman had. The children both wore simple kimonos with no designs, the girl in royal purple with a platinum silver sash and the boy in midnight blue with a crimson red sash.

The picture was passed around to each Sky shinobi, with the women smiling and taking far away looks in their eyes, imagining what their own children would be like when they finally settled down with the men of their lives.

* * *

Somewhere in the training grounds of the Hidden Ice village, a certain shinobi sneezed, causing him to lose his balance from a pole he was standing on. He landed on the ground below him with a hard thud, much to the amusement of his training partners and teammates. 

It was the start of a bad week for the young Hidden Ice chuunin named Hyouzen Arare.

* * *

Elsewhere in the shinobi world, another shinobi clad in a black cloak decorated with red clouds sneezed as well. Surprised, he stumbled forward as the large weight on his back shifted, throwing his balance off center. He tripped forward several steps before finally regaining his equilibrium, planting left foot forward and bracing his weight on the bent leg said foot was attached to. Upon reestablishing his balance, he stood looked up to notice that he was mere inches from colliding with his partner, who had stopped and turned around to watch him in mild amusement. He then straightened himself up and readjusted his load before his counterpart looked up at him- for he was at least a foot and a half taller than him- with a smirk plastered on his face. 

"Been in the water too long, star brat?" the shorter man asked, obviously amused at the others discomfort.

The taller male only grunted and brushed past him, foregoing any answer. The shorter of the two only chuckled lightly before following after him.

* * *

Back in the Hokage Tower of Konoha, the picture finally circulated itself back to Toki. Carefully, he folded it back up, placing it in one of his inner pockets of his trench coat, making careful note to remember to put it back into the compartment in his hitae-ite later. Seeing the inquisitive looks on his companion's face, he explained the significance of the photo. 

"You've probably gathered that this is my family: my wife Tsume, my daughter Hige, and my son Kiba. Hige was born a year after her mother and I were married, and Kiba three days after the Kyuubi attack. We managed to live fairly happily after that event, helping rebuild the village and helping bring it back to its former glory in any way we could. That is, until five years later when it was found that Shadow was the culprit behind the demon's release."

Tokis features darkened at the mention of this, scowling as he remembered that particular day.

"Just as soon as the war broke out and the summons for our return came, the council demanded that we leave and never return. We were all dumbstruck. We assisted them all these years, worked with them for so long, and lived in brotherhood with them for what seemed like forever, and _that_ is how they choose to repay us?"

Toki took a few calming breaths, gaining his composure and trying to placate the agitation he sensed from the ANBU guards in the room before continuing.

"We did what we could. We left with as much grace as possible, and kept touch with those we could not take along with us. It's been eight years since then. I haven't seen my children and wife in so long, and I want to be with them again, even if it is for a short period of time."

With that sentence, he was finished with his story. A comfortable silence washed through the room as the occupants soaked the information in, gaining a new perspective on their companion.

None of them had a chance to comment on the story that was just told to them, as the doors to the office of the Hokage opened. From inside, a young man in a gray militaristic outfit with a high collar emerged. His Leaf hitae-ite was tied in a skullcap fashion that completely covered his head and caught his bangs, resulting in his hair covering his right eye. The presence of fabric on his chin and lower jaw implied that the man was wearing a body suit of some type. Stepping to the side, the young man made a sweeping gesture, his right hand coming to a stop to his side in the direction of the room from whence he came. Speaking deeply and authoritatively, he addressed the Sky shinobi.

"Hokage-sama is ready to see you now."

Silently, the occupants of the lobby nodded. Four shinobi rose from their seats, and, with Toki in the front of the group, followed the young Leaf shinobi into the office.

* * *

Elsewhere, deep in the forests of Fire Country, three shinobi bounded through the trees, carting along two injured youths with the intent of getting them to Shodaime General Hospital in Konoha. 

Tsume stopped briefly on a tree branch to shift her bundle into a more comfortable position. Taking a brief moments rest, she looked behind her, spotting Yuta and Kakashi quickly closing in on her and Kuromaru with the young Uchiha in tow. Turning her focus back to her task at hand, she gripped the blonde child in her arms firmly and, with a burst of chakra to her legs, sped off into the foliage again.

As the Inuzuka matriarch bounded through the treetops, her thoughts wandered to the child that occupied her arms. Despite her decision to raise her children to not hate the boy and stop the cycle of hatred, in addition to whatever monetary contribution she could make, she still felt that she could have done more. It was a lingering feeling that she held on a day-to-day basis, with days where it got so bad that it kept her awake at night. In her arms, she held her the child of a girl that had connected with her, understood her, and had been her first and closest friend- in a way, the sister she never had. In her arms, she held a child that was the son of the greatest hero of the village, who willingly sacrificed himself and his only son so that an entire village could survive. In her arms, she held the child of two of the most loyal and powerful shinobi of the world- two people that fought, bled, and cried for those they loved and held dear to them. A child who carried a great burden and kept all safe from the raging of a beast, yet was treated as if he were the beast itself by narrow-minded and ignorant fools. In effect, the sacrifices that Naruto made for his village were unwarranted and undeserved by those he protected, but done so in the face of such adversity.

Rarely did it happen, but upon comparing her own character to his, Tsume felt lacking. She wasn't sure if she could live the way he did: always smiling and never allowing the glares and harsh words affect him. She felt that she would have gone missing-nin at some point herself, knowing her own attitudes and disposition. Quietly, she cursed herself for not trying to do more for the boy in the past. The child needed as much support as possible with all the odds stacked against him like they were, and she was not there to give it to him. She then reprimanded herself again for not being as present for her own children as she would have liked. Being the only breadwinner in the family at one point really took a toll on her home life with missed birthdays and important events due to the need to earn money from missions. She knew that her offspring understood the circumstances under which they lived, and were grateful for what little time the family had together. However, it still hurt every time she missed the important times in their lives, such as Hige's promotion to chuunin and Kiba's graduation to genin due to the constant long range reconnaissance and tracking missions she was usually assigned to by the Hokage.

The dog-tamer clan's matriarch felt a stirring within her arms. Looking down slightly while keeping her bounding pace through the forest, she saw her load slowly and wearily opening his eyes. Tiredly, he blinked them a couple of times before slowly and seemingly painfully turning his head to look at his carrier. Tsume briefly stopped on a branch and looked back, noticing that Kakashi and Yuta were nowhere to be found. Briefly, she assumed that the two were taking a break somewhere where Yuta could check the progress of his patient. She smirked slightly to herself. In all likelihood, Yuta had called out to her to get her to stop, but was unsuccessful due to her tunnel vision. Gently, she shifted the young vessel in her arms and sat down, propping him in her lap as Kuromaru settled beside her, taking a welcome and needed break to rest and clean himself slightly. Turning her face to him, she locked her eyes with his cerulean blue ones and smiled softly at him.

"How ya feelin', kid?"

"Tired..." the blonde replied wearily, as if it was a Herculean effort to remain functioning for any period of time. He looked over the woman that held him in her arms. She struck a cord of familiarity with him, but couldn't really place who she reminded him of. He took in her wild black hair, slit-like eyes, canines, and red facial marks before it hit him like a sack of potatoes.

"You're... Kiba's mom, aren't you?"

"That I am, foxy," she said brightly, "Inuzuka Tsume's the name. You gave us quite a scare there at the Valley of the End. We were afraid you were dead. Lucky for you I was with one of the best medic-nins in the world."

Naruto grunted, nodding his acknowledgment to her introduction.

"Ne, Inuzuka-san... how is Kiba?"

Tsume sighed before she broke the news.

"Kiba had some self-inflicted wound when we found him. My daughter is a medic-nin as well, and was able to stabilize him with the help of one of the Sand-nins. She should be in Konoha by now."

"And Sasuke?"

The woman smiled lightly at the boy.

"You really did a number on him, but you succeeded, kiddo. You stopped him from going to the snake bastard. I didn't think he'd allow himself to be brought back without putting up one hell of a fight when I was told about the situation, so I'd say you did what was necessary. Good work."

The blonde smiled lightly at her, feeling good to have gained praise and acknowledgment from a complete stranger. He became serious and apprehensive rather quickly, however. A change that slightly shocked the woman.

"Ano-sa... why are you being so kind to me?"

At this question, Tsume's countenance also turned serious.

"Naruto-kun... I would be lying if I said that I didn't harbor hatred towards the Kyuubi, as it did kill off my entire clan aside from me and my kids," she began, noticing the child wince slightly at her words. When he did so, she brought one of her hands up to stoke the young blonde's hair lightly in a comforting and reassuring manner before continuing, "but to blame you for the demon's deeds and actions that day is absolutely ridiculous. You weren't even a few hours old when it was sealed into you, and it was something that you had no choice in. It was a hard decision that your parents had to make before they died."

The blonde breathed in sharply, eyes widening in surprise. Silence reigned as he stared at her like a fish out of water. Briefly, Tsume worried that her sudden revelation had been a mistake as the child was silent for a long time. Cursing inwardly and silently praying, she hoped to herself that she was not going to cause more unneeded emotional stress to the boy. When all was said and done, the child would most likely want to know anything and everything about Arashi and Tomoe, and would most likely come to her for the information. Whether he asked now or after he recovered, Tsume promised herself that she would hold nothing back, tell him the truth, and made a very special note to herself to apologize for failing to tell him sooner.

After what seemed like an eternity, the young demon-vessel blinked, and broke the silence

"You knew my parents?" he asked. Tsume mentally sighed with relief, and responded with a nod.

"They were two of the best friends I ever had," the woman answered, "they loved the village very much, and they loved you more than anything in the world, however brief the time they had with you was. If they were alive today, I guarantee you that they would have been appalled at how you have been treated, and would be sorely disappointed in Konoha."

Silence washed over the two. Quietly, Naruto digested the information that was given to him. He now had confirmation from another source that he was not abandoned as a child, and that the Sandaime's reports to him that his parents had died when he was young were true. Despite any misgivings he might have had about the informant, which were very little, his instincts screamed at him that the woman holding him was telling nothing but the truth. He often found himself questioning what the old man had told him once he had found out about the demon fox, sometimes feeling that he was only telling him what he wanted to hear, and that they actually shunned him for the burden he carried. Silently, he thanked whatever powers that were out there for what little comfort this information gave him.

"Naruto..."

The young vessel brought himself out of his thoughts, focusing his attention on the woman carrying him. Her eyes shone with regret and remorse.

"I'm sorry that I haven't done more to ease your suffering. You're the son of my two best friends, and I should have looked out for you better. It may seem too little, too late; but I only hope you can forgive me for my lack of attention towards your plight these past twelve years."

The blonde smiled tiredly, his eyelids getting heavier.

"Don't worry about it, nee-san," he said tiredly, "you care now. That's enough for me."

With that, the child breathed out, closed his eyes, and slipped back into unconsciousness. Startled, Tsume quickly leaned forward. She sighed in relief when she felt the child's breath, smelling faintly of ramen, caressing her face. Just to be cautious, she checked his pulse, and found it to be a strong and steady throb at his jugular. Kuromaru noticed her concern, as he raised himself up from his sitting position and walked up to the duo, sniffing the child lightly before giving him a lick on the cheek. Tsume smiled at this display, and reached over to scratch her companion behind the ear.

"OI! TSUME!"

The woman turned to look behind her to see Yuta and Kakashi bounding towards her, the young Uchiha swaying almost dangerously on the cheap vinyl stretcher he was carried on. Sighing lightly, the woman stood up with the child in her arms, shifted him slightly, and once again bounded along towards Konoha, her wolfish companion by her side.

* * *

"Well, this is certainly unexpected... I'd never thought I'd see you in this city again, let alone at the rank of 'Boss-Jounin'. Care to tell me how this came to be?" 

To say that Toki was surprised to see Tsunade of the legendary three in front of him, let alone looking every bit as young as he last saw her, was an understatement. He was downright shocked. After her brother and lover died during the war with Hidden Stone, it was as if her life had totally ended. Shortly after the war ended, she left the village, unable to handle the memories the village invoked in her, and thus consequently shirking her responsibilities as a kunoichi of the Leaf. Toki understood the pain of losing someone close- he himself had lost his own brother in the recent war with Hidden Shadow, as well as losing a dear friend in Tomoe's brother those many years ago. However, where Tsunade had wallowed in her grief, he had paid his respects, remembered the good times, and moved on with his life. Where she had used her pain as an excuse to turn her back on the world, he had used his to drive himself forward, determined to never allow another to feel the same pain again.

Yet here she was, in her youthful guise, sitting in the Hokage's chair. She had moved on, just as he did, and taken the mantel as the leader as one of the most powerful shinobi villages in the world. It brought a smile to Toki's face to see that the medic-nin of the legendary three was living again, and touching lives as she had done in years past.

"Boss-Jounin" was not an official title in any hidden village. The people who were referred to as such were often the head jounin of the village they represented, but were not the actual head of the village. While most villages referred to their head ninja as a "kage" of sorts, only the leaders of the five largest and most powerful villagers were actually recognized as such. To a certain extent the head shinobi of Sky, Shadow, and Marsh were recognized as "kage" as well- the Kamikage of Hidden Sky was recognized by Hidden Shadow, Hidden Leaf, and Hidden Mist; the Akumakage of Hidden Shadow was recognized by Hidden Sky, Hidden Cloud, and Hidden Sand; and the Yashakage of Hidden Marsh was recognized by Hidden Stone and Cloud. However, those that did not have a ninja recognized as a "kage" instead had a "shinobi-lord", often referred to as the "Jounin-shishou". These ninjas did the same duties and had the same responsibilities as the kage of one of the more major shinobi nations: assigning missions, planning battles, allocating funds for operations, and representing the village in international affairs. The "Boss-Jounin" was often the direct advisor of the village's leader, who also acted as the head shinobi's direct representative and messenger, being able to sign treaties and negotiate their details with just as much authority as their leader had if said leader was too indisposed be present himself or herself- something like a "vice-kage" or "acting kage". Next to the leaders themselves, the Boss-Jounin was the most trusted ninja in the village. (1)

The Sky jounin chuckled and scratched the back of his head at the base of his ponytail, giving Tsunade a winning smile.

"It's a position that I was awarded for my valor in combat and my leadership during the war with Hidden Shadow. It was kinda thrust on me as my predecessor had died in a battle that drove the Shadow back across their borders. It was at the last moment, too, as we needed someone to take care of our negotiations due to Kamikage-sama being on a critical diplomatic mission to Hidden Ice."

"And who exactly is running your village as we speak?" the Hokage queried.

"I left our village in the care of two members of the Sky Council of Seven. They're the most trusted advisors to Kamikage-sama next to myself now, and are very capable."

He allowed a small amount of time for Tsunade to digest the information he provided before continuing.

"I must say, Tsunade-sama, that I'm rather surprised, and pleasantly so, that you have reconciled with your past and returned to the Leaf. And with you in the Hokage's chair, I expect this village to begin flourishing once again as it once did under Sandaime-sama, despite the recent battle with the Sand-Sound coalition."

"So you heard of the debacle that occurred during the recent Chuunin Exams..."

"We did, Hokage-sama," Lachesis replied, being the first of the other four guest shinobi to break silence, "and we give you our most heartfelt condolences on the loss of the fine shinobi that you undoubtedly lost in that attack, including the previous Hokage. We, too, have lost much in the war with Hidden Shadow. We know the pain of losing loved ones and comrades in arms."

"Indeed." the seemingly young Hokage responded, "Sadly, I haven't had any connections to this village since my family died long ago, so I feel somewhat removed from the pain that the village currently feels, save for the loss of my former mentor."

Tsunade heaved a great sigh. Leaning back in her chair, she gestured for her guests to sit in the provided leather bound armchairs that were placed in her office for the occasion. The five shinobi complied, but not before Toki took off his trench coat and draped it over the back of his seat, revealing his well sculpted arms to be sleeveless until the arm guards started on his forearms. The quintet had no weapons, as they had to be checked and held by the resident ANBU guard station in the lower level of Hokage Tower, which they would be able to retrieve upon leaving the building.

"So what gives me the pleasure of meeting the Boss-Jounin of Hidden Sky and three members of the Sky Council of Seven? You folks have been fighting a war for many years now, so risking a visit during that time of strife implies that you are either desperate for help or that the fighting is over and has left you somewhat weakened."

"Very perceptive, Tsunade-sama," Toki replied with a chuckle, "You were right with the fighting being over. As of three months ago, the war had officially ended with Shadow being driven back to deep within their borders. Without going into too much detail, both of our countries were weakened severely by the final battle. Shadow was hit hard in the last attack we made on their forces in order to drive them out of our country, and we suspect that they'll be licking their wounds for a good while before they can think about striking at us again. That will probably give us enough time to recuperate ourselves. In a way, it sorta resembles the attack that was made on Konoha, only on a larger scale."

It was at this point that Gaea broke in.

"Hokage-sama, we wish to re-forge our alliance with your village. Our records show- and I have no doubt that yours will show the same- that our countries flourished under the previous treaty. With the open flow of shinobi between the two countries and the camaraderie that we will attempt to build, we believe that a new treaty will be of great benefit to both our villages. With the shinobi will come artisans, merchants, and many other civilians, which will help boost our economies and improve the quality of life for both villages. With our shinobi mingling with your own, bonds will be built, creating the need to protect those that one holds close. We hope to bring our villages back to their former glories."

As the honey-haired kunoichi finished, Zane raised his hands and began a series of gestures, none of which Tsunade recognized. As Zane made the necessary movements, his son put them into words for him.

"We won't deny that we're in a moment of weakness right now," Zander started, translating for the Hokage, "but we need all the help we can get. Both our countries are resilient, and will bounce back from these struggles. However, by working together, we can hope to lessen the time it takes to return to full strength, and by allying ourselves together, we can push the bounds of our strength further, becoming one of the most powerful coalitions in the world."

With that, silenced washed over the room. Tsunade digested the information given to her. There was no doubt that the Konoha was hit hard by the recent attack, and with the current situation at hand with the defection of the last Uchiha, the village was wrought with problems. In their weakened state, they were in a prime position to be attacked by Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud, with whom Hidden Leaf was still on strained relations with. In fact, the blood was so bad that neither country had sent any of their shinobi to any of the promotion exams that were hosted in the Leaf in the last fifteen or so years. Weighing her options, an alliance with another village other than the Sand sounded like it had more benefits than risks. With the help of the new alliance with the Sand and this proposed treaty with Sky, the Leaf would be protected against this possible threat should it arise, and even more so if the Sound managed to ally themselves with them. Tsunade also made a mental note to arrange for teams from both villages to begin more reconnaissance missions into those villages' activities.

Thinking back to when she heard the news of the ejection of the Soragakure community from Konoha, she couldn't help but think that the council had made a grave error in their rush to blame someone for the village's misfortune, and thus had heavily damaged the village's foreign relations image to the other nations. Their actions, to her, had made it seem as if they would be willing to back stab an alliance if the opportunity arose for the most irrational of reasons and regardless of whatever favorable past history the village had with it, and therefore would have made it hard to gain support from others in times of need. She frowned to herself, remembering how the village treated its own at times- the Inuzuka and Aburame clans were practically outcasts in the village for their more "unique" qualities when she was younger, and she didn't want to get started into how she felt about how the village treated Naruto. The boy was like a younger brother to her- almost a son. Like Jiraiya, she felt rather protective of him and hated to see how poor a lot he had.

Tsunade breathed deeply, leaned forward in her chair, and gazed at her guests. She had nothing to lose by allying the Leaf with Sky. The young-looking Hokage smiled at her guests, and made her decision.

"It sounds like a great idea," she began, "an alliance is just what our villages need to speed our recovery and strengthen us further."

There was a collective sigh of relief in the room, eliciting a chuckle from the leader of the Leaf.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," said Toki, a smile gracing his features, "you won't regret this."

Tsunade nodded, standing up from her desk. Her guests did the same, and then bowed deeply to her.

"We need to hash out the details of our treaty," Tsunade continued, "and to do it, we need the presence and compliance of at least two members of each village's council to be present and the leading shinobi. Since you have three members of your council already here, plus the Boss-Jounin acting in the stead of the Kamikage, then all I need is to summon the same number of members of our council. If you folks would just follow me to the conference room on the third floor of this building, I can send out my summons and from there we can..."

"HOKAGE-SAMA!"

Tsunade never got to finish her statement, for at that moment, the doors of her office bust open. The chuunin who had barged in was flushed red, panting and sweating from physical exertion. Upon closer examination of him, Tsunade recognized him as one of the guards that manned the gates of the village.

"What is it?" she snapped, "I'm in the middle of an important meeting right now. This better be worth the intrusion..."

She left the threat hanging, glaring at the young guard in a manner that promised pain if he did not act quickly enough for her liking. Reflexively, he gulped and felt a chill run down his spine. Just as soon as it occurred, he shook it off and bowed to her in apology.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," the guard started, "but the news is very important. It's about the Uchiha retrieval unit... they've returned, and most of them injured..."

To be continued...

AUTHORS NOTES:

Well, another chapter done. I apologize to those following this story for the slow update. For a long while I had a small bout with a problem called "writer's block". Once I managed to get through that, I still had some schooling to get through. Once that was done, after taking finals and packing my sorry ass out of the dorm back to my home, I went headlong into two jobs, and even though I'm working only one job now (I quit one of them for reasons I've discussed in my Livejournal), I'm getting worked pretty hard at the one I've kept. So I'm sorry that it took so long to get this up, but I feel that if I need to take more time to make a chapter worth reading, then I'll take the time to do so.

You all might notice how much slower this chapter moved compared to the last one. Well, now that I got a few of the major players introduced, I plan on slowing down quite a bit and developing them more. I've got a _lot_ ideas on how to execute what I want to do in the story, but I'm having trouble deciding what I want to use for it. Given some time, some hard work, and some careful planning, I'll manage. I promise, however, that I'll try my hardest not to drag things out or lose sight of my original intent, which is to provide a deep and enjoyable work for others to explore and inspire them to write as I have been by others such as The SOC Puppet and LackeyH. Of course, there's always revisions -

I haven't really decided yet, but don't be surprised if you see a slight time jump in the events of next chapter. It won't be anything significant like the two-and-a-half year jump in the manga. If I do go through with it, then it will probably only be a couple of days in the current timeline.

(1) Please note that the Boss-Jounin concept is an idea that I found in Desaix's wonderful fic "Training for the Job". I liked the idea, and I didn't want to blatantly rip him off, so I tried to change it in a significant enough manner that wouldn't be considered stealing. I hope I was successful. However, if he or any reader feels that I did something wrong, let me know and I'll try to correct it the best I can. Go read his fic. While I'm not the biggest fan of NaruSaku pairings, this one is a good one.

I would also like to thank all those who reviewed for me, and take the time to respond to them in the best what I can:

**RuByMoOn17, Hunter Hatake, and Lipek:** Thanks for the compliments, and sorry this took so long to get up. I hope it's to your liking. The chapter is a little slower than the other two, hence why I titled it "Insanity's Lull". I hope the next installments will be to your liking as well.

**stephanie:** No, the Kyuubi didn't die. You'll find out what happened to him once Naruto has a small encounter with him in the next chapter. Stay tuned! -

**Keltosh:** Sorry about the typos. I try my best to keep them down to a minimum, but as with all writers, I'm human and some slip by me. I'll try to be more careful in the future, and I have a beta reader that will look it over for pre-publishing... that is, if he gets his internet back --; . Also, I don't intend to have Sasuke suddenly do a 180 and become a nice guy. He'll still be an ass, and he'll still be, as a college buddy of mine states, a "whiny bitch". He'll eventually see the errors of his ways, but not until very far into the fic, which will probably be at the tail end of it. I've got plans for the copycat bastard, and it depends on his asshole nature. I agree, I hate him probably as much as you do, and as far as I'm concerned, with what has happened in the manga the entire Uchiha clan can completely die out for all I care. The last good Uchiha died when Obito was crushed during the war with Stone/Rock. I'll take your suggestion into consideration as well, although I'm still leaning heavily towards the NaruHina relationship. It won't be vital to the story, but if I attempt it I will and I'll try not to ruin the story with it by trying to force it.

**Licht Seiger:** The crossover has already happened. Naruto's bloodline is an ability seen in the final arc of the Rurouni Kenshin manga, as well as his mother's name. The source of Kyuubi's release is a Soul Calibur reference. It'll be more prominent as the fic goes on... _much_ more prominent.

**Hiiro and Angelica:** What can I say? I talk to you quite a bit. Thanks for all the time you've spent with me brainstorming and whatnot. I appreciate the feedback and your positive remarks in your review. Also, I haven't said this to you in our chats on AIM, but even though Naruto got the better teacher, Kakashi still turned his back on him during that month before the finals when Naruto asked him to teach him and foisted him off to someone that I felt probably couldn't have helped him grow nearly as much has he himself could have. It was a stroke of luck that he managed to find Jiraiya, and that man was smart enough to look for what was wrong with the boy and correct it... unlike Kakashi who went and tossed him to someone else to teach "the Genius Uchiha", who is viewed as a more valuable ninja. To me, this is favoritism and just wrong, and if you read "Foxhound" by Kraken's Ghost, the author brings up a lot of good points about Kakashi's treatment of Naruto _and_ how he had trained Sasuke that seem to be a fair assessment of the situation, in my view.

Anyhow, I've ranted enough. It's late, I'm tired, and I need to get to work tomorrow. I'll see you all in the next chapter, and until then, happy reading!

Read and review if you like, and as always, no please flames.

SourdoughAK, signing off for now.


	4. Insanity's Spread Preview and Notice

Standard Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, Soul Calibur, or any other series that may be used in this fic. They belong solely to the wonderful people that have written and/or created them. This is the result of spending too much time indoors during cold Alaska weather and watching too much anime.

Inheriting Insanity

A Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin/Soul Calibur Crossover

By SourdoughAK

Chapter 3 - Insanity's Spread

The first time Naruto saw the gates that held the demon nine-tailed fox at bay, he was more nervous than he had ever been in his life.

Well... scratch that. He wasn't just nervous. He was scared shitless.

When Jiraiya threw him off the cliff to "help" him draw out the power of the Kyuubi for his summoning, the last thing he suspected to see when he blacked out and recessed into his mind was a wooden cage with one small slab of paper that read "seal" on it to be keeping the beast that nearly destroyed all of Konoha at bay. He expected much more. Maybe a steel cage with barbed wire that was electrified. And maybe he expected the fox to be bound, chained, and gagged, for good measure. So when he first saw the cage that held the monster, he was surprised to see that it was nothing real ornate or stout-looking, and got quite the scare when the beast made a swipe at him, nearly slicing him in half with it's massive claws. However, the seal did its job, protecting Naruto from the beast, and had held the fox for over twelve years. Perhaps the way the cage looked was something that Naruto's mind constructed on a subconscious level, but whatever the reason it looked the way it did, the thing worked, and worked well.

Despite all of the insurances he had with the effectiveness of the seal, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Before him was the grand cage of Kyuubi no Youkai, the nine-tailed demon fox, laden with beige, root-like vines. The thickest of the vines were uprooted from what could be considered the ground in front of him, wrapping themselves around the bars of the cage. From these vines smaller, less thick ones lead into the darkness of the cage, pulled taught like ropes from which fish hung from.

Naruto had a feeling he wasn't going to like what he was about to discover...

* * *

Hey all. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Things have been kind of hectic lately. Just to let you all know, I haven't forgotten about this story, and I'm still brainstorming for this and trying to get it put together. 

I'm sorry about this not being a full chapter, but I have to make an important announcement. I will be taking a break from all anime fandom for a while. I don't know when I'll be back or how long I'll be absent, but this is needed. I've been having some problems in the last few months, the worst having occurred with this last week. A lot of things have piled up on my mind and it's stressing me. In fact, it's gotten so bad that I'm beginning to fear for my mental health. I hope that it doesn't come down to having to go to counseling, but I need to sort this out if I'm going to function properly. I've gotten support from my family and friends, and I hope that I can clear this all up as soon as possible.

I'm really sorry for the lack of updates, but real life can be a pain. Thanks to all who've reviewed within the posting of the last chapter, and I'll have a personal response to you all when I come back and am ready to write again. If I'm forced to drop it all, then I will, but I certainly hope it doesn't come to that.

This is SourdoughAK, signing off indefinitely with hopes to return.


	5. Final Author's Note

Hey all.

It's been a long time since I last updated this. Things have been rather hectic and busy in my life lately. I've since graduated from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks with my BS in Biological Sciences, and now have moved onto getting my Master's in Biology at the same school. Over the summer, I got a job in a lab as an in-between while I studied for the MCATs and prepped for medical school. However, I was taken to a research conference as part of the job, and needless to say the research bug bit me. Now I'm pursuing my MS and hope to go on to get my MD-PhD or DO-PhD.

Have I recovered from my problem that I mentioned in the last post? Yes and no… for the most part, I've come to terms with it and am for the most part recovered. However, it still rears its ugly head at me on occasion. I'm coping the best I can, but I'm happy to say that I'm back to mostly working order. I've had the support of a lot of people to get through this, and I'm honestly and truly grateful for it. Never forget, people: _you are not alone in the world_. Those that are close to you can and will help you in your time of need (and even strangers on occasion – honorable mentions below). Ask for that help if you need it. You'll never regret it.

Over the past few days I've looked over this fic. While I felt rather accomplished when I first started this project, I have to say that I am less than pleased with how it looks now. Therefore, I've decided to axe this version of the story and re-write it into something else. I've decided to delete the _Soul Calibur_ and _Blade of the Immortal_ crosses to make it easier to work with, so the future version of it will be a straight _Rurouni Kenshin_/_Naruto_ cross. However, a few of the characters will be retained in the new version, as well as making appearances in some of my other projects as well.

I'm also in the midst of working on my thesis project for my MS and getting ready to attend a couple of conferences and a workshop, so my writing time has been severely hampered. Graduate school is not easy, and as such will be taking up the majority of my time. I'm going to focus on this and get to the fic writing as soon as I can. However, with so much on my plate I'll be a very busy person. I'm making no guarantees, but I hope to have a project up sometime in the future.

I'm sorry to have left you all hanging like I have. I'd like to take some time to thank those that reviewed since my last post:

**nantukoprime:** Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm pleased that I my work was to your liking, and I'm happy that you understood my predicament with schooling. I hope that when I finally get the re-write off the ground that it'll be even better than the original concept.

**JohnnyG:** It was a kick in the pants to get a review from someone I consider a fanfic god. Your review, even though of few words, meant a lot to me. Keep up the good work yourself.

**The Gandhara:** Thanks for the double review, and sorry about the thick parts there. I realize now that the first chapter was a huge info dump that could have been handled better. I really enjoyed writing the history part of it and giving background to people. I really wanted to flesh out my characters as best I can. If it's one thing I absolutely hate, it's one dimensional characters and how really interesting ones get the shaft. Kishimoto has a bad habit of doing that to other characters (even the _MAIN CHARACTER_… Naruto has stagnated so badly it's not even funny). I only hope that my next works and my rewrite will be as good.

**Keltosh:** Three reviews, man. I'm grateful for that, and I'm grateful to you for being the first person to show his support in my time of need. I understand how poorly written a lot of pairings can be (I've read a lot of crap on and my intention was not to just throw the two characters together and make it a centerpiece. It would have been a slow process and not central to the story, although it most likely would have had an effect on how character interaction played out. I had planned on making the OCs a very integral part of the story. It would have been a lot of work, but at the time I felt it was worth doing it. I still had a few more to bring in, but that's all moot now.

**Dragon Man 180:** I was surprised that my tale had such an effect on you. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I was really looking forward to the family reunion, and there would have been some drastic changes occurring in Naruto and those close to him. In the end, Naruto would have abandoned that which would sooner see him dead than lose a traitor. In light of the latest Naruto chapter (343) I have to say that my opinion of the traitorous ass-hat has dropped even lower than it was before. Keep up the good work on your own fics as well. "Naruto the Kitsune Hanyou" is one of my favorites.

**Dragonmaster:** I'm sorry that you feel that way. I happen to think it could work, provided that Hinata gets over her shyness around him. I tend to hold out for the underdog, so forgive me. Also, look over the list you gave me. Do you honestly think that _any_ of those pairings are plausible? The only one in that list that is even _remotely_ believable is Sakura in light of recent developments in the manga. Knowing Kishimoto, he'll probably pull a 180 and make her a Sasuke fangirl again. Sorry, but the majority of your listing are far less plausible than NaruHina. Ayame is a minor character with little development, so I guess somethink workable can be made with that one. I'll admit that I do indulge in those pairings as a guilty pleasure, but I don't delude myself into thinking that they can be plausible. Remember, this is fanfiction. Our imagination is the limit here.

**ZeroX1999:** Sorry that you felt that I focused too much on the OCs. Trust me, I would have taken it away from them eventually. I wanted to be able to flesh them out better before I got into the swing of things. I'll remember that when I'm working on my other projects and the rewrite.

**Calamus:** I'm glad that you liked how I've portrayed my characters. I try to put myself into their position and feel how they would react in a particular situation. I wanted to make sure that they had flaws just like you and I do. Thanks for your words of support, especially when I was at a low point in my life. It meant a lot to me, and still does to this day.

**Crystal Suicine:** You and I talk quite a bit, Mr. I-used-to-be-Hiiro-and-Angelica. Thanks for all the brainstorming sessions. We'll be doing more in the future, I swear!

**Toriyamiyasha, T, HeiLong, Hunter Hatake and Roxxi Uchiha, Tombadgerlock, Kitsurumenokitsune, The Forgotten Lord, Gorion1928, Fleetfoot, takum, melissa, BodomInYourVeins, and Adeya:** Thanks for your support. I hope that when I can get my newest projects off the ground that the product is as pleasing to you as this was.

Thanks for all your support, criticism, and kind words. Take care!

Sourdough-AK, signing off with the hopes and intent to return.

BELIEVE IT!

(Sorry… couldn't help it…)

- Sourdough-AK


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